Synthesis and characterization of nanocrystalline nickel oxide using NaOH and oxalic acid as oxide sources

Abstract

Precursors of nickel oxide (NiO) nanoparticles were synthesized through a simple chemical precipitation method by changing the oxide source used for the synthesis. The synthesized precursors were subjected to thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) to determine the temperature at which the precursors decompose into nickel oxide. The obtained results of TGA suggest that precursor NiO prepared using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) showed NiO formation at 600 °C, whereas, when oxalic acid was used as oxide source the formation of NiO took place at 400 °C. After calcinations of the precursors at respective temperatures, NiO nanocrystals have been harvested. The synthesized NiO powders were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analysis. An FE-TEM image of NiO prepared using oxalic acid showed spherical and elliptical particles with sizes in the range of 15 nm. The Williamson–Hall (W–H) plots were drawn for the annealed products to study their lattice strain and crystallite size. The sizes of NiO nanocrystals obtained from W–H analysis are well correlated with sizes estimated using Scherrer’s formula. The relatively low saturation magnetization of NiO confirms its super paramagnetic behavior.