Preparation and characterization of BCN

Abstract

Formation, structure and phase transition of BCN compound were investigated by mechanical milling of mixture of graphite and hexagonal boron nitride or annealing the as-milled mixture at high temperature and high pressure. Amorphous BCN (a-BCN) was prepared by milling the mixture for 120 h. A broad and strong absorbed peak locating at 1400 cm-1 and two weak peaks locating at 740 and 1630 cm-1 respectively were observed in the infrared spectrum of the a-BCN, and a broad Raman scattering peak was found at 1330 cm-1 in its Raman spectrum. The binding energies of the a-BCN are 191.9 eV for B1s, 284.9 and 286.8 eV for C1s, 398.3 and 400.5 eV for N1s, respectively. A hexagonal BCN (h-BCN) with lattice constants of a=0.2505 nm, c=0.6664 nm was produced by annealing the a-BCN for 45 min at 1473 K and 4 GPa. Its infrared absorbed peaks appeared at 1398, 1103, 1024, 925 and 802 cm-1, respectively, and Raman scattering peaks are observed at 1328, 1358, 1582 and 1614 cm-1, respectively. The mechanisms of the formation and phase transition of the BCN compound are discussed.