Hydrothermal synthesis and photocatalytic degradation ability of nickel phosphide micro/nano materials

Abstract

Ni12P5 and Ni2P catalysts were successfully synthetized by using water as solvent at a low temperature by hydrothermal method. The influence of molar ratio of P/Ni and hydrothermal reaction temperature was studied. The results showed that with initial P/Ni mole increment, pure tetragonal nickel phosphide (Ni12P5) could be transformed into pure hexagonal nickel phosphide (Ni2P), while with temperature increment, Ni2P could be gradually transformed into Ni12P5. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the phase and morphology of the as-prepared catalysts. The catalysts exhibited better photocatalytic degradation abilities for methylene blue under 365nm ultraviolet irradiation.