Synthesis, Characterization, and Photocatalytic Activity of NiO Nanoflowers

The sustainable development of pollution-free technologies for environmental remediation has concerned significant attraction due to rapid growth of industrialization. Herein, synthesis of nanoflower-like NiO porous nanostructures prepared from different nickel precursors by solvothermal method in combination with calcination treatment is reported. The obtained porous NiO-Ac (prepared from nickel acetate) and NiO-S (prepared from nickel sulfate) nanostructures are analyzed by a powder X-ray diffractometer (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and BET to determine their structure, morphology, and surface area. Photocatalytic measurement of NiO-Ac and NiO-S demonstrates that, these nanostructures show excellent photo degradation behavior toward methylene blue (MB) under ultraviolet radiation. About 85% of MB in 100 min is removed using NiO-S nanostructured catalyst. Compared with NiO-Ac, the porous NiO-S nanoflowers exhibit higher photocatalytic activity due to their large surface area (100.79 m(2) g(-1)) and smaller band gap (3.0 eV).