Preparation of gallium nitride from gallium–magnesium alloy powders

Ga–Mg alloy powders were introduced to synthesise GaN powders with flowing ammonia. When the magnesium percentage in the alloy was 25 wt-% or below and the reaction temperature was about 750°C, all Ga atoms in the alloy were transformed into GaN, and the diameter of the GaN powders was about 40 nm. For the Ga–Mg alloy powders with a diameter ranging from 37 to 75 µm ammoniated at 750°C, only 3 h were spent to transform all the Ga atoms into GaN, indicating that the strategy suggested in this study was effective to produce GaN powders.