Bulk Materials Synthesis
NREL's materials discovery and design researchers have a wide suite of solid-state synthesis equipment—including flow furnaces, box furnaces, and hydrothermal autoclaves—suitable for both air-stable and air-sensitive materials, such as nitrides.
Ammonolysis Glovebox
Materials: Nitrides, oxides, and intermetallics, etc.
Atmosphere: Argon (Ar)
Size: 3-glove
Installed: 2022
Features: Tube furnace reaching 900°C that can flow anhydrous ammonia (NH3), ultra high purity nitrogen, and/or forming gas; and analytical balance
Nanoparticle/Nitride Glovebox
Materials: Nitrides, oxides, and intermetallics, etc.
Atmosphere: Ar
Size: 4-glove
Installed: June 2024
Features: Two box furnaces reaching 1100°C, 15-ton hydraulic press, and analytical balance
Quartz Sealing Line
Features:
- Quartz tube sealing line with a torch
- Vacuum capability and backfilling gas
Furnace Suite
Features:
- Two tube furnaces that reach 1100°C
- Two muffle furnaces that reach 1200°C
- Two muffle furnaces that reach 1000°C
Hydrothermal Synthesis Suite
Features:
- Two Binder ovens that reach 300°C
- Parr autoclaves
Publications
“Mn3AlN” is Really Mn4N, Inorganic Chemistry (2024)
Low-Temperature Synthesis of Cation-Ordered Bulk Zn3WN4 Semiconductor via Heterovalent Solid-State Metathesis, Chemical Science (2024)
Expanding the Phase Space for Halide-Based Solid Electrolytes: Li–Mg–Zr–Cl Spinels Chemistry of Materials (2024).
Bulk and Film Synthesis Pathways to Ternary Magnesium Tungsten Nitrides, Journal of Materials Chemistry C (2023)
Two-Step Solid-State Synthesis of Ternary Nitride Materials, ACS Materials Letters (2021)
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Last Updated July 9, 2025