For the investigation of the products of reaction of yttrium oxide with carbon mixed in various proportions, the chemical and X-ray diffraction methods of analysis were combined with the gas chromatographic analysis of the mixture of hydrocarbons and hydrogen formed on the sample decomposition with water. The carboreduction of Y2O3 was examined at relatively low temperatures, convenient for obtaining the reaction intermediates in higher yields. At
1 600 °C and pressures of 10-3 Pa the reduction of a mixture of Y2O3 with carbon in a stoichiometric ratio of 1 : 7 yields YC2 in equilibrium with 20% of Y2OC phase. At lower carbon contents (down to the Y2O3 : C ratio of 1 : 2) tha fraction of the Y2OC phase increases up to approximately 30%. In addition to Y2O3, the reaction mixture contains also Y2C, Y2OC and a phase giving propyne on hydrolysis. The presence of traces of C3 hydrocarbons and small amounts of methane in the product of hydrolysis of the carbide sample prepared by the carbothermal reduction of the oxide can be explained in terms of the occurrence of the Y15C19 phase, probably substituted in part by oxygen, and of the Y2OC phase. The results are compared with those obtained previously for the Sc2O3 + C system.
Synthesis of highly electrochemically active Li2S nanoparticles for lithium–sulfur-batteries