Metathetical conversion of Nd₂O₃ nanoparticles into NdS₂ polysulfide nanoparticles at low temperatures using boron sulfides

A new simple metathetical sulfidation method using boron sulfides has been developed to prepare nanoparticles of NdS₂ via conversion of ca. 50-nm-sized nanoparticles of Nd₂O₃ at 450 °C, in which boron and sulfur powders form boron sulfides in situ and evaporate to sulfidize the oxide. The X-ray powder diffraction analysis revealed that the products were purely NdS₂, and the atomic absorption spectrometric analysis confirmed nonexistence of boron in the products after washing with water. The detailed TEM studies showed that the NdS₂ nanoparticles maintained the original size of the oxide particles without fusion during the low-temperature sulfidation process.