Thermal decomposition of Pr[(C5H8NS2)(C12H8N2)]

The thermal behavior of the complex Pr[(C₅H₈NS₂)(C₁₂H₈N₂)] in a dry nitrogen flow was examined by TG-DTG analysis. The TG-DTG investigations indicated that Pr[(C₅H₈NS₂)(C₁₂H₈N₂)] was decomposed into Pr₂S₃ and deposited carbon in one step where Pr₂S₃ predominated in the final products. The results of non-isothermal kinetic calculations showed that the decomposition stage was the random nucleation and subsequent growth mechanism(n = 2/3), the corresponding apparent activation energyE was 115.89 kJ•mol⁻¹ and the pre-exponential constant In[A/s] was 7.8697. The empirical kinetics model equation was proposed as(f(alpha ) = frac{3}{2}(1 - alpha )[ - 1n(1 - alpha )]^{frac{1}{3}} ). The X-ray powder diffraction patterns of the thermal decomposition products at 800 °C under N₂ atmosphere show that the product can be indexed to the cubic Pr₂S₃ phase. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of the final product reveals the particle appearance of a diameter within 40 nm. The experimental results show that the praseodymium sulfide nanocrystal can be prepared from thermal decomposition of Pr[(C₅H₈NS₂)(C₁₂H₈N₂)].