Chemical reduction of stage-1 FeCl3 graphite intercalation compound with n-butyl lithium : a structural, Mössbauer and magnetic study

Progressive reduction of the stage-1 graphite intercalation compound, (GIC), C14FeCl3.04 using a solution of n-butyllithium into hexane at 60 °C leads to the formation of zero valent iron layers of stage 1 containing small amounts of Fe3+ and Fe2+. The reduced compounds have the average formula : C14FeCl3- x(LiCl)x with x = 0, 1, 2, 3. For x = 2 and 3 the compounds behave as ferro-spin glasses with a freezing temperature around 300 K.