Combined kinetic analysis of solid-state reactions: a powerful tool for the simultaneous determination of kinetic parameters and the kinetic model without previous assumptions on the reaction mechanism.

The combined kinetic analysis implies a simultaneous analysis of experimental data representative of the forward solid-state reaction obtained under any experimental conditions. The analysis is based on the fact that when a solid-state reaction is described by a single activation energy, preexponetial factor and kinetic model, every experimental T-alpha-dalpha/dt triplet should fit the general differential equation independently of the experimental conditions used for recording such a triplet. Thus, only the correct kinetic model would fit all of the experimental data yielding a unique activation energy and preexponential factor. Nevertheless, a limitation of the method should be considered; thus, the proposed solid-state kinetic models have been derived by supposing ideal conditions, such as unique particle size and morphology. In real systems, deviations from such ideal conditions are expected, and therefore, experimental data might deviate from ideal equations. In this paper, we propose a modification in the combined kinetic analysis by using an empirical equation that fits every f(alpha) of the ideal kinetic models most extensively used in the literature and even their deviations produced by particle size distributions or heterogeneities in particle morphologies. The procedure here proposed allows the combined kinetic analysis of data obtained under any experimental conditions without any previous assumption about the kinetic model followed by the reaction. The procedure has been verified with simulated and experimental data.