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Pharaoh's Serpents: New Insights into a Classic Carbon Nitride Material

Miller, TS; d'Aleo, A; Suter, T; Aliev, AE; Sella, A; Mcmillan, PF; (2017) Pharaoh's Serpents: New Insights into a Classic Carbon Nitride Material. Zeitschrift fur Anorganische und Allgemeine Chemie , 643 (21) pp. 1572-1580. 10.1002/zaac.201700268. Green open access

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Abstract

The combustion of mercury(II) thiocyanate to form "Pharaoh's serpents" is a spectacular reaction first described nearly two centuries ago. The large volume of distinctive yellow branches that grow from a tiny quantity of flaming reactants makes this an enchanting demonstration, often used to depict the magic of chemistry. In recent years several videos of this bizarre process have "gone viral" online. Formally, the reaction should yield a carbon nitride with the ideal formula C 3 N 4 along with HgS. However, since early characterization attempts there has been little further study of the materials produced. Herein we apply modern characterization techniques to reinvestigate the nature of the carbon nitride and its intimate relationship to the HgS produced. The HgS phase forms nanoparticles that decorate the surfaces of a C 3 N 4 foam matrix. Both of these compounds are important wide-gap semiconductors and we propose that the "Pharaoh's serpents reaction" could be used to produce a potentially important heterojunction nanocomposite materials that could be useful optoelectronic and photocatalytic applications.

Type: Article
Title: Pharaoh's Serpents: New Insights into a Classic Carbon Nitride Material
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1002/zaac.201700268
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1002/zaac.201700268
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Chemical Engineering
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Chemistry
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10025751
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