I was trying to purify boron powder and some white impurities formed during the heating step, but it wouldn't dissolve in water or anything I used to
purify the B. I noticed the impurity contaminated B turned black if heated, then return to white after cooling. What is it?
Reagents used to purify the boron from filter paper: Schweizer's reagent (Cu nitrate+NaOH+NH3), H2SO4, tap water(soft), distilled water, piranha soln,
gentle heat from blowtorch (to dry the powder), acetonej_sum1 - 19-6-2019 at 23:07
What is the source of your boron? Is this stuff collected from NdBFe magnets? What method did you use to isolate the boron?
Specifics are needed to respond meaningfully to this question.
elementcollector1 - 19-6-2019 at 23:09
If it's boron from Nd magnets, the white stuff is a mix of RE and Fe compounds (in my case, it was sulfates, but I can't assume the same in your
case).
Come to think of it, I never actually did find out where the boron went in my experiments... has anyone ever successfully proven that they
recovered the boron from a Nd magnet?fusso - 19-6-2019 at 23:44
Yes, from Nd magnets, but RE sulphates aren't that insoluble isn't it?fusso - 23-6-2019 at 05:13
But the white stuff turned black when heated and return to white after cooling…
