Electrosynthesis of Ti3AIC2 from oxides/carbon precursor in molten calcium chloride

Layered micron-scale Ti3AlC2 powders have been successfully synthesized from TiO2/Al2O3/C precursor by a facile electrochemical process at 900 °C and 3.1 V in molten CaCl2. Porous TiO2/Al2O3/C mixture pellet was served as the cathode and a graphite rod was employed as the anode. The influence of carbon content on the products was systematically investigated. The lattice parameters of the electrosynthesized Ti3AlC2 were determined. In addition, three reaction periods from TiO2/Al2O3/C to Ti3AlC2 including the generation of CaTiO3/Ca12Al14O33 intermediate compounds, the reduction of the oxides/compounds and the formation of Ti3AlC2 were investigated and confirmed. The results show that the electrochemical process is of great potential to the facile synthesis of Ti3AlC2, which may also have implication for the production of other Mn+1AXn phases from their inexpensive and abundantly available oxides precursor