{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T18:22:24Z","timestamp":1785435744180,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,24]],"date-time":"2026-04-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776988800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004147","name":"Tsinghua University","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["KF202520"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KF202520"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004147","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["KF202520"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KF202520"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03cve4549","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>A novel amorphous Hf-MOFs precursor was successfully synthesized and converted into HfC nanoparticles via one-step pyrolysis. The effects of metal\/ligand molar ratios, solvent types, and pyrolysis temperature were systematically studied. High-purity spherical HfC nanoparticles (44.30 \u00b1 9.63 nm) were obtained at 1500 \u00b0C using a 1.5:1 metal\/ligand molar ratio with mixed anhydrous ethanol\/deionized water solvents. At a pyrolysis temperature of 1700 \u00b0C, the as-synthesized HfC nanoparticles possessed an exceptionally low oxygen content of 0.76%, alongside a carbon content of 6.42% that almost perfectly matches the theoretical value of stoichiometric HfC. The formation mechanism involving Hf-O-C coordination and carbothermal reduction was clarified. Additive-free HfC ceramics were fabricated using the as-synthesized HfC nanoparticles via spark plasma sintering (1950 \u00b0C, 30 MPa, 20 min). The resulting ceramics exhibited a relative density of 96.7% and a Vickers hardness of 20.2 GPa, both of which are significantly superior to those of ceramics sintered from commercial HfC powders under identical conditions (95.8% and 17.8 GPa, respectively). This work provides a promising and feasible pathway for the preparation of other high-quality ultra-high temperature hafnium-based carbide powders and ceramics.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma19091754","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,24]],"date-time":"2026-04-24T17:26:18Z","timestamp":1777051578000},"page":"1754","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["High-Purity, Uniform, and Spherical Hafnium Carbide Nanoparticles Derived from a Novel Amorphous Hafnium-Based Metal\u2013Organic Framework Precursor for the Preparation of High-Performance Ceramics"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-6446-2513","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hongzhi","family":"Cheng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China"},{"name":"Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Inorganic Function Composites, Nanjing 211816, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-7482-643X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jian","family":"Gu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China"},{"name":"Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Inorganic Function Composites, Nanjing 211816, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-2001-7515","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Siyuan","family":"Kan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ran","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Quan","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sinuo","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Advanced Bio and Healthcare Materials Research Division, Korea Institute of Materials Science, Changwon 51508, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Junyang","family":"Jin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China"},{"name":"Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Inorganic Function Composites, Nanjing 211816, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yang","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China"},{"name":"Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Inorganic Function Composites, Nanjing 211816, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jian","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China"},{"name":"Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Inorganic Function Composites, Nanjing 211816, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1486-3830","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chang-An","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Lab of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"651","DOI":"10.1007\/s13272-020-00445-y","article-title":"Ultra-high temperature ceramics developments for hypersonic applications","volume":"11","author":"Justin","year":"2020","journal-title":"CEAS Aeronaut. 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