Synthesis of hierarchical Ni 11(HPO 3) 8(OH) 6 superstructures based on nanorods through a soft hydrothermal route

Abstract

In this paper, we reported the successful synthesis of hierarchical Ni 11(HPO 3) 8(OH) 6 superstructures based on nanorods via a facile hydrothermal route, employing NiCl 2·6H 2O and NaH 2PO 2·H 2O as the reactants in the presences of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and CH 3COONa·3H 2O. The reaction was carried out at 170 °C for 10 h. HPO 3 2− ions were provided via the dismutation reaction of H 2PO 2 − ions in a weak basic solution. The as-obtained products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Some factors influencing the morphology of the hierarchical Ni 11(HPO 3) 8(OH) 6 nanorods, such as the reaction temperature, time, the amounts of PVP and CH 3COONa, and the initial concentration of Ni 2+ ions, were systematically investigated. A possible growth mechanism was proposed based on experimental results.