Effect Of Various Technological Parameters On Particle Morphology And Uniformity Of Alpha-Ni(Oh)(2) Synthesized Via Surfactant-Free Hydrothermal Route

Hierarchical microspheres of alpha-Ni(OH)(2), uniform in size and shape, have been synthesized through a facile surfactant-free hydrothermal route. Experimental parameters such as reaction time, temperature and reactant concentration were systematically optimized to produce monodispersed particles. SEM analysis confirmed that the particles synthesized from a recipe containing 2.65 x 10(-2 )mol. L-1 nickel chloride and 5.6 x 10(-1 )mol. L-1 urea aged at 85 degrees C for 2 hours were uniform in size and morphology. HR-TEM results showed that the hierarchical microspheres are made up of thin sheet-like units. The crystal structure of the alpha-Ni(OH)(2) microspheres was investigated by XRD which showed (003) as the preferred orientation plane having 7.369 A interplanar spacing and crystallite size of 21 nm. The intercalation of CO3-2 and OCN- species was revealed by FT-IR spectroscopy. The average activation energy (41.23 KJ mol(-1)) for thermal-induced transformation reaction was determined based on the TG/DTA data recorded at three heating rates. The present green and facile route could be extended to synthesize monodispersed systems of other metal compounds.