Investigation on the key factors of MoP catalysts prepared by carbothermal reduction method for dry reforming of methane

Carbothermal reduction (CR) method for the synthesis of MoP catalyst has been received much attention due to the increase of carbon materials as promising supports in various MoP-catalyzed reactions. In...

Highly Efficient and Low-Temperature Preparation of Plate-Like ZrB2-SiC Powders by a Molten-Salt and Microwave-Modified Boro/Carbothermal Reduction Method

To address the various shortcomings of a high material cost, energy-intensive temperature conditions and ultra-low efficiency of the conventional boro/carbothermal reduction method for the industrial preparation of ZrB2-SiC powders, a novel molten-salt and microwave-modified boro/carbothermal reduction method (MSM-BCTR) was developed to synthesize ZrB2-SiC powders. As a result, phase pure ZrB2-SiC powders can be obtained by firing low-cost zircon (ZrSiO4), amorphous carbon (C), and boron carbide (B4C) at a reduced temperature of 1200 °C for only 20 min. Such processing conditions are remarkably milder than not only that required for conventional boro/carbothermal reduction method to prepare phase pure ZrB2 or ZrB2-SiC powders (firing temperature of above 1500 °C and dwelling time of at least several hours), but also that even with costly active metals (e.g., Mg and Al). More importantly, the as-obtained ZrB2 particles had a single crystalline nature and well-defined plate-like morphology, which is believed to be favorable for enhancing the mechanical properties, especially toughness of their bulk counterpart. The achievement of a highly-efficient preparation of such high-quality ZrB2-SiC powders at a reduced temperature should be mainly attributed to the specific molten-salt and microwave-modified boro/carbothermal reduction method.