Novel Metal Carbide/Carbonitride Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Increasing economic and ecological demands, as well as stricter governmental regulations, require the development of novel multifunctional materials for applications in different fields of life and technology. In this context, metal carbide and carbonitrides are exceptional materials that show outstanding properties, such as high hardness, ultra-high temperature stability, creep resistance, high electrical and thermal conductivity, paramagnetic properties and photoluminescence. In addition to structural applications, metal carbides and carbonitride are very interesting materials for energy conversion and storage, electromagnetic shielding, and catalysts. Thus, they have attracted considerable attention in the last few years and several technical applications have been reported. A wide variety of synthetic tools can be applied for the synthesis of metal carbide and carbonitrides as 2D materials (MXenes), monoliths, powder or thin films. For this purpose, solid-state reactions, sol-gel synthesis, polymer-derived ceramics route, sintering and deposition techniques can be applied.

The scopes of this Special Issue include, without being limited to, the following topics:

• Synthesis Methods: Gas-phase techniques (e.g., CVD, ALD[DM1] , etc.); liquid-phase methods (sol-gel, solvothermal, etc.); and solid-state procedures (different sintering techniques, polymer-derived ceramics; mechanical alloying, etc.).
• Properties: High temperature; mechanical; charge carriers transport; thermal transport; electronic; optical; magnetic; catalytic, etc.
• Micro-/nanostructure
• Applications: High-temperature structural applications; electronic applications; catalysis; energy conversion and storage, lightning, coatings, etc.

It is our pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue. Full papers, communications, and reviews that cover all aspects (i.e., synthesis–structure–property relationships, applications and future directions) of metal carbide, metal carbonitride, metal carbodiimide and their composite materials are all welcome.

Dr. Günter Motz
Dr. Gabriela Mera
Guest Editors

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