Fabrication of Ni-, Co- and NiCo-coated graphite microspheres by heterogeneous precipitation

Abstract

The precursors with NiCO3·2Ni(OH)2·2H2O, Co2(OH)2CO3, or both NiCO3·2Ni(OH)2·2H2O and Co2(OH)2CO3 coated graphite microspheres were prepared respectively by the aqueous heterogeneous precipitation using nickel sulfate, cobalt nitrate, sodium carbonate, ammonium bicarbonate and graphite microspheres as the main starting materials. Subsequently, Ni-, Co- and NiCo-coated graphite microspheres were successfully obtained by thermal reduction of the as-prepared precursors at 500 °C for 2 h, respectively. These metal-coated graphite microspheres were characterized with a smooth, cohesive surface consisting of fine metallic particles. Optimized precipitation processing parameters of the concentration of graphite microspheres (10 g/L), the rate of adding reactants (3 mL/min) and pH value (8.0) were determined by a trial and error method. The thermal analysis of the precursors was investigated by TG. Powders of the precursors and the resultant metal-(Ni, Co and NiCo alloy) coated graphite microspheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).