Thermal decomposition studies of [Ni(NH3)6]X2 (X = Cl,Br) in the solid state using TG-MS and TR-XRD

Detailed investigation on the thermal behaviour of hexaamminenickel(II) chloride and hexaamminenickel(II) bromide has been carried out by means of simultaneous TG/DTA coupled online with mass spectroscopy (TG-MS) and temperature-resolved X-ray diffraction (TR-XRD). Evolved gas analyses by TG-MS revealed the presence of NH₂, NH, N₂ and H₂ fragments in addition to ammonia during the deamination process. These transient species resulted due to the fragmentation of the evolved ammonia during pyrolysis. The intermediates formed during the thermal deamination stages were monitored by in situ TR-XRD. The final product of the decomposition was found to be nano size metallic nickel in both cases. Morphology of the complexes, intermediates and the residue formed at various decomposition stages was analysed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Kinetic analyses using isoconversional method for deamination and dehalogenation reaction show that the activation energies vary with the extent of conversion, indicating the multi-step nature of these solid state decomposition reactions.