New insights in the hydrothermal synthesis of rare-earth carbonates

The rare-earth carbonates represent a class of materials with great research interest owing to their intrinsic properties and because they can be used as template materials for the formation of other rare earth phases, particularly of rare-earth oxides. However, most of the literature is focused on the synthesis and characterization of hydroxycarbonates. Conversely, in the present study we have synthesized both rare-earth carbonates—with the chemical formula RE2(CO3)3 2-3H2O, in which RE represents a generic rare-earth element, and a tengerite-type structure with a peculiar morphology—and rare-earth hydroxycarbonates with the chemical formula RECO3OH, by hydrothermal treatment at low temperature (120 C), using metal nitrates and ammonium carbonates as raw materials, and without using any additive or template. We found that the nature of the rare-earth used plays a crucial role in relation to the formed phases, as predicted by the contraction law of lanthanides. In particular, the hydrothermal synthesis of rare-earth carbonates with a tengerite-type structure was obtained for the lanthanides from neodymium to erbium. A possible explanation of the different behaviors of lighter and heavier rare-earths is given.