title: Study of the chemical mechanism involved in the formation of tungstite in benzyl alcohol by the advanced QEXAFS technique.
abstract: Insight into the complex chemical mechanism for the formation of tungstite nanoparticles obtained by the reaction of tungsten hexachloride with benzyl alcohol is presented herein. The organic and inorganic species involved in the formation of the nanoparticles were studied by time-dependent gas chromatography and X-ray diffraction as well as by time-resolved in situ X-ray absorption near-edge structure and extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. Principal component analysis revealed two intermediates, which were identified as WCl(4) and WOCl(4) by using linear combination analysis. Quick-scanning extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy enabled the time-dependent evolution of the starting compound, the intermediates and the product to be monitored over the full reaction period. The reaction starts with fast chlorine substitution and partial reduction during the dissolution of the tungsten hexachloride in benzyl alcohol followed by the generation of intermediates with W=O double bonds and finally the construction of the W-O-W network of the tungstite structure.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Multifunctional Materials, Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 10, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Inga
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Olliges-Stadler
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stötzel
authors.forename: Dorota
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Koziej
authors.forename: Marta D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Rossell
authors.forename: Jan-Dierk
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Grunwaldt
authors.forename: Maarten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nachtegaal
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Frahm
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niederberger