NANOSTRUCTURED COMPOSITE MATERIALS, DIRECT SYNTHESIS PROCESS FOR COMPOSITE MATERIALS CONTAINING TUNGSTEN AND TIN SEMI-CARBIDE DEPOSITED ON CARBON OR TUNGSTEN SEMI-CARBIDE DEPOSITED ON CARBON AND USE THEREOF
The invention relates to nanostructured composite materials which contain tungsten and tin semi-carbide deposited on carbon or tungsten semi-carbide deposited on carbon and to a process for preparing the same, the composite materials being intended to be used either as catalysts or in electrochemical applications. The claimed material contains nanoparticles of WC, metallic Sn, and C or nanoparticles of WC and C, obtained by the carbothermal reduction of a reaction mass with a precursor atomic ratio W:Sn:C, where a/b = 0.01...7, c/a = 3.5...200 and c/b = 3...200, such that c/(a+b) = 4...50, the average size of WC and metallic Sn particles having values ranging between 5...100 nm, preferable beetween 10...70 nm. The claimed process has two steps: a. obtaining the reaction mass by physical mixing of the precursors by pestle crushing, grinding or ultrasonic treatment or by operations of solution mixing, evaporation, impregnation, melt extrusion or lyophilisation of precursor solutions, where the W precursor can b
