Abstract
Nickel oxide (NiO) nano-particles were produced via a simple microwave method from the Ni(OH)2 precursor, which was obtained by slow drop-wise addition of 0.1M sodium hydroxide to 0.1M nickel nitrate. The mixture was vigorously stirred until the pH reached 7.2. The mixture was then irradiated with microwave to deposit Ni(OH)2 at a better precipitation rate. Drying the precipitate at 320°C resulted in formation of NiO nanoparticles. High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HRTEM), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), employed for the structural characterization of the as-prepared NiO nanoparticles, revealed their good crystallinity and high-purity. Microwave irradiation increased homogeneity and decreased the mean particle size of the produced NiO particles.
Highlights
Nano-particle oxides of transition metals have attracted materials scientists
Nickel oxide (NiO) nano-particles were produced via a simple microwave method from the Ni(OH)2 precursor, which was obtained by slow drop-wise addition of 0.1M sodium hydroxide to 0.1M nickel nitrate
Drying the precipitate at 320°C resulted in formation of NiO nanoparticles
Summary
Nano-particle oxides of transition metals have attracted materials scientists. These materials have exceptional properties which stimulate many advanced applications (Duran et al, 2003; Wang et al, 2005 Mazaheri et al, 2008). Nano-structured nickel oxide is a prominent example having a large exciton binding energy and a wide band gap ranging from 3.6 to 4.0eV.4,5 This p-type semiconductor can be used in optical, electronic, catalytic and superparamagnetic devices like transparent conductor films, gas sensors, alkaline battery cathodes, dyesensitized solar cells and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) (Bhadur et al, 2008; Sato et al, 1993). Versatile methods such as sol–gel (Ghosh et al, 2006; Wu et al, 2007), chemical precipitation (Bhadur et al, 2008; Bahari Molla Mahaleh et al, 2008) and anodic arc plasma method (AAPM) (Hongxia et al, 2009) have been used to produce nanomaterials. Production of nickel oxide nanoparticles by microwave chemical synthesis, their morphological characterization and their structural study are discussed in this paper
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