General molten-salt route to three-dimensional porous transition metal nitrides as sensitive and stable Raman substrates

Transition metal nitrides have been widely studied due to their high electrical conductivity and excellent chemical stability. However, their preparation traditionally requires harsh conditions because of the ultrahigh activation energy barrier they need to cross in nucleation. Herein, we report three-dimensional porous VN, MoN, WN, and TiN with high surface area and porosity that are prepared by a general and mild molten-salt route. Trace water is found to be a key factor for the formation of these porous transition metal nitrides. The porous transition metal nitrides show hydrophobic surface and can adsorb a series of organic compounds with high capacity. Among them, the porous VN shows strong surface plasmon resonance, high conductivity, and a remarkable photothermal conversion efficiency. As a new type of corrosion- and radiation-resistant surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrate, the porous VN exhibits an ultrasensitive detection limit of 10−11 M for polychlorophenol. Fabrication of transition metal nitrides generally requires harsh conditions due to the high activation energy barrier for nucleation. Here, the authors report a mild molten-salt route for the synthesis of three-dimensional porous metal nitrides, VN, MoN, WN, and TiN.