Thermal deamination kinetics of tris(ethylenediamine)nickel(II) sulphate in the solid-state

Thermogravimetric techniques have been used to study the kinetics of thermal deamination of tris(ethylenediamine)nickel(II) sulphate. The complex was synthesized and characterized by various chemical and spectral techniques. Thermal decomposition studies were carried at different heating rates (5, 10, 15 and 20°C min⁻¹) in dynamic air. The complex undergoes a four-stage decomposition pattern. The stages are not well resolved. Decomposition path can be interpreted as a two-stage deamination, and a two-stage decomposition. Reaction products at each stage were separated and identified by means of IR and XRD. The morphology of the complex and the residue were studied by means of SEM. Final residue of the decomposition was found to be crystalline NiO. The deamination kinetics was studied using model-free isoconversional methods viz., Friedman, Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) methods. It is observed that the activation energy varies with the extent of conversion; indicating the complex nature of the deamination reaction.