Graphite, intercalation compounds ferric chloride

Kang F, Leng Y, Zhang T (1998), Electrochemical synthesis and characterization of ferric chloride-graphite intercalation compounds in aqueous solution , Garbon, 36(4), 383-390. 

The first compound of this sort was ferric chloride graphite 21, 84)-Riidorff and Schulz (65) obtained from graphite and ferric chloride at 200-300° a stage 1 compound with 60-70% of ferric chloride. In this compound separate layers of ferric chloride, as they occur in the lattice of the pure FeCls, were intercalated between the carbon planes, which were unchanged, though the distance between them was increased to 9.4 A. 

In attempts to separate ferric chloride and aluminum chloride by intercalation in graphite, Croft (10) found that aluminum chloride could be intercalated either alone or together with ferric chloride. Further work (11, 11a) led to the surprising result that numerous metal chlorides are able to react with graphite. The compounds studied are set out in Table VI, which is taken from Croft s work. It includes thirty... 

There is relevance of these considerations to the processes of activation of carbons (discussed in Chapters 5 and 6). A series of compounds, known as intercalation compounds, exists in which ions and molecules are located between the graphene layers of carbon materials, principally graphitic structures, but not necessarily so. These reactions, leading to the formation of intercalation compounds, involve electron transfer processes. For example, electron transfer from the graphene layer forms a bromine anion (Br ), or electron transfer to the graphene layer forms a potassium cation (K ). Ferric chloride also forms an intercalation compound. 

Preparation of finely-divided iron/carbon catalysts for ammonia synthesis by the controlled reduction of graphite/ferric chloride intercalation compounds. K. Kalucki, W. Morawski, and W. Arabczyk (Politechnika Szczecinska). PL 141907 (1988). 

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