Samarium(III) nitrate is an odorless, white-colored chemical compound with the formula Sm(NO₃)₃. It forms the hexahydrate, which decomposes at 50°C to the anhydrous form. When further heated to 420°C, it is converted to the oxynitrate, and at 680°C it decomposes to form samarium(III) oxide.

Synthesis

Samarium(III) nitrate is produced by the reaction of samarium hydroxide and

nitric acid Nitric acid is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but older samples tend to be yellow cast due to decomposition into oxides of nitrogen. Most commercially available nitri ...

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Uses

Samarium(III) nitrate is a

lewis acid A Lewis acid (named for the American physical chemist Gilbert N. Lewis) is a chemical species that contains an empty orbital which is capable of accepting an electron pair from a Lewis base to form a Lewis adduct. A Lewis base, then, is any sp ...

catalyst Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...

that is used to produce a nitrate precursor solution that is used as a nanocatalyst in the solid oxide regenerative fuel cells. The nanocatalyst is made by mixing samarium(III) nitrate hexahydrate, strontium nitrate, and cobalt(II) nitrate hexahydrate. Samarium(III) nitrate is also used for the preparation of samarium doped

ceria Cerium(IV) oxide, also known as ceric oxide, ceric dioxide, ceria, cerium oxide or cerium dioxide, is an oxide of the rare-earth metal cerium. It is a pale yellow-white powder with the chemical formula CeO2. It is an important commercial produ ...

, which can be used in the fabrication of electrolytes for fuel cells. The samarium doped ceria is produced by mixing

cerium(III) nitrate Cerium nitrate refers to a family of nitrates of cerium in the +3 or +4 oxidation state. Often these compounds contain water, hydroxide, or hydronium ions in addition to cerium and nitrate. Double nitrates of cerium also exist. Cerium(III) nitrat ...

and samarium(III) nitrate together using triethylene glycol as a solvent for 5 hours at 200°C. Then it was dried for 4 hours at 110°C which resulted in a brown solid. Then it was heated up to 500°C for two hours which made the samarium doped ceria.

References

{{Nitrates Nitrates Acid catalysts Samarium(III) compounds