Preparation of nanosized antimony by mechanochemical reduction of antimony sulphide Sb_2S_3

摘要

The preparation of nanosized antimony (grain size 19 nm) by high-energy milling of antimony sulphide Sb_2S_3 with elemental Fe as reducing element is reported. The mechanochemical reduction was performed in a planetary ball mill for 10-180 min. The process is rather straightforward with elemental antimony and iron sulphide (pyrrhotite-4H) being the only solid-state products. The process kinetics as described by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) magnetometry shows that most of the reduction is complete after 60 min of milling.