Co-reduction route to nanocrystalline titanium silicide by using different metal reductants

Titanium silicides were synthesized by co-reducing silicon tetrachloride and titanium tetrachloride with different metal reductants (Na, Mg, Zn and Al) in an autoclave at 650 °C. The X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that the obtained titanium silicides could adopt different structures. The orthorhombic titanium disilicide was obtained when the reductant was metallic sodium. However, the hexagonal titanium silicide (Ti5Si3) was obtained when using Mg, Zn and Al. Transmission electron microscope images showed that the average particle sizes of the samples were about 60, 40, 30 and 25 nm in diameters, respectively. It is suggested that the different reaction activities of the reductants resulted in the different titanium silicides. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]