Soft chemical deintercalation of silver from delafossites AgFeO2, and AgCrO2

Selective deintercalation of Ag+-ion from AgFeO2 and AgCrO2 with the use of dilute aqueous solutions of NH4Cl was achieved successfully. Based on the ICP analysis, the Ag: Fe and Ag: Cr ratios were 0.9:1 and 0.87:1 in the deintercalated sample of AgFeO2 and AgCrO2, respectively. Retention of both structure and the polytypes were noticed after deintercalation together with the reduction in their unit cell c-axis. Raman spectra of deintercalated samples confirmed the preservation of overall symmetry. XPS results confirmed the existence of Fe (III) and Cr (III) in the Ag+-ion deintercalated samples. [Display omitted] •A soft chemical deintercalation of silver ion from AgFeO2 and AgCrO2 using NH4Cl.•Up to 10 mol % of Ag+ could be deitercalated retaining the delafossite structure.•Contraction of c-axis noticed on removing silver.•Removal of silver ion did not change the oxidation state of Fe or Cr.