Soft Template CTAB-Assisted Synthesis of Mesoporous Ni-B Amorphous Alloy Nanoparticles

Abstract

Ni-B amorphous alloy particle is a newly promising candidate of catalyst for methanol electrooxidation in Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC). For enhancing catalytic activity and increasing surface area, mesoporous Ni-B amorphous alloy nanoparticles was manufactured by chemical reduction of NiCl2 and KBH4 via surfactant hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as an soft template. The effects of the CTAB content and the feeding order on the phase evolution, microstructure, and surface area of the resulting products were investigated. Phase and structure of the samples were investigated using XRD, SEM and BET. Amorphous Ni-B nanoparticles with mesoporous structure were obtained in this study. The CTAB content great impacted the mesoporous structure of the resulting products, although the obviously effect on the phase was not found. The surface area, pore volume and pore diameter of samples improved with the increase of CTAB content. Compared to nanoparticles obtained by CTAB solution added to NiCl2 solution, nanoparticles obtained by NiCl2 solution added to CTAB solution exhibited better mesoporous structure.