Chemical synthesis and magnetic properties of HCP and FCC nickel nanoparticles

Abstract

In this study, we successfully synthesized single-phase hexagonal closed packed (HCP) and face-centered cubic (FCC) nickel nanoparticles via reduction of nickel nitrate hexahydrate and nickel acetate tetrahydrate, respectively, in polyethylene glycol-200. Structural information of the as-synthesized nickel nanoparticles are studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) as a function of the molar concentration of the nickel precursor. XRD results reveal that low concentrations of nickel precursor (0.005 M and below) favor the HCP, while high concentrations favor the mixture of HCP and FCC crystal structures. Particle size of HCP structure is found in the range of ∼15 nm via transmission electron microscope analysis. Vibratory sample magnetometer is employed to study its magnetic behavior and the results reveal that FCC crystalline phase shows ferromagnetic nature with high saturation magnetization (M s ∼ 39.6 emu gm−1) as compared to metastable HCP crystalline structure (M s ∼ 2 emu gm−1). The surfactants bonding on the surface of nickel nanoparticles are studied.