Highly efficient nickel fluoride nanoparticles with enhance electrochemical properties

Due to their unique physical and chemical characteristics, nanostructured materials of various architectures have demonstrated tremendous promise in the fields of energy and the environment. In this study, the reverse micellar emulsion approach is used to prepare cubic NiF2 nanoparticles (NPs) in order to produce self-assembled NiF2 nanostructures with a certain morphology. Hydrated and anhydrous NiF2 NPs are prepared by studying the key reaction parameters, such as changing water to surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate) ratio, synthesis temperature, and the amount of solvent (cyclohexanol). The hydrated NiF2 NPs were sintered at 400 degrees C for 3 h under nitrogen gas at 5.0 mbar pressure to achieve the anhydrous NiF2 NPs. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies reveal the tetragonal crystal structure with a crystallite size of 60 to 77 nm. While scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies show the cubic morphology of as-prepared NiF2 NPs. The cyclic voltammetry was performed to determine oxidation/reduction, current, and reversibility of both anhydrous and hydrated NiF2 NPs. The cyclic voltammetry result shows that the electrochemical activities of sintered NiF2 NPs were greatly improved up to similar to 0.9 Ah because of their structures, morphology, and size compared to pre-sintering NPs.