Formation of Ni3C Nanocrystals by Thermolysis of Nickel Acetylacetonate in Oleylamine: Characterization Using Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

Nickel acetylacetonate was thermally decomposed in oleylamine under inert atmosphere. Nanocrystals of two cubic phases and a hexagonal phase appeared. The phases were identified using X-ray diffraction, laboratory X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and hard-X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HX-PES). The hexagonal phase was a nickel carbide, Ni3C, which had been often identified as a hexagonal close-packed metallic nickel. One cubic phase was a face-centered metallic nickel, and the other cubic phase was proposed as a novel cubic nickel carbide, which was characterized as an intermediate product of the carbidization of metallic face-centered cubic Ni to the hexagonal nickel carbide.