Ternary rare-earth hydride oxides. Stability in air and potential use as precursors for the synthesis of materials

Ternary rare-earth hydride oxides (or oxyhydrides) REHO show rather high thermal stability and inertness in air. SmHO remained intact when stored in air for 12 h, while after storage for one year, it completely hydrolysed to form Sm(OH)${}_3$. In contrast, YHO and HoHO show only slight decomposition upon longer storage. The cation's basicity and the air humidity apparently are crucial factors in the air stability of the compounds. Their reactions with various gases were investigated, in order to better understand factors governing the stability in air and to map their potential as precursors in materials synthesis. Both SmHO and YHO reduce CO${}_2$ to carbon and form the metastable C-type rare-earth sesquioxides RE${}_2$O${}_3$ instead of the thermodynamically stable B-type. YHO reacts with gaseous ammonia to a red powder. By X-ray diffraction, this is identified as yttrium nitride, but the color of the sample suggests it to be an oxygen-poor nitride oxide (oxynitride) phase YN${}_{1-x}$O${}_x$. These results underline the potential of rare-earth hydride oxides as precursors for the synthesis of other rare-earth compounds. The stability in air, even at elevated temperatures of some rare-earth hydride oxides such as YHO and HoHO are advantageous for potential applications as functional materials.