Synthesis, Structural, and Raman Investigation of Lanthanide Nitride Powders ( = La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, Er, Lu).

Lanthanide nitride (N) materials have garnered significant interest in recent years due to their promising potential as heterogeneous catalysts for green ammonia synthesis under low temperature and pressure reaction conditions. Here, we report on the synthesis of an extended series of lanthanide () nitride powders ( = lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, erbium, lutetium) and their structural and vibrational properties. Polycrystalline powders were fabricated using a ball milling mechanochemical process, and their structural properties were assessed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).

Vertical transport and tunnelling in rare-earth nitride heterostructures.

We report an investigation of the ferromagnetic semiconductor rare earth nitrides (RENs) for their potential for cryogenic-temperature electronics and spintronics applications. We have identified ohmic contacts suitable for the device structures that demand electron transport through interface layers, and grown REN/insulator/REN heterostructures that display tunnelling characteristics, an enormous 400% tunneling magnetoresistance and a hysteresis promising their exploitation in non-volatile magnetic random access memory.

Breaking Molecular Nitrogen under Mild Conditions with an Atomically Clean Lanthanide Surface.

A route to break molecular nitrogen (N) under mild conditions is demonstrated by N gas cracking on, and incorporation into, lanthanide films. Successful growth of lanthanide nitride thin films, made by evaporation of lanthanides in a partial N atmosphere at room temperature and pressure as low as 10 Torr, is confirmed using X-ray diffraction. In situ conductance measurements of pure lanthanide thin films exposed to N gas show an immediate surface reaction and a slower bulk reaction.