Hydrothermal-polyol route to synthesis of beta-Ni(OH)(2) and NiO in mixed solvents of 1,4-butanediol and water

The beta-Ni(OH)(2) with flower-like morphology assembled from nanosheets has been successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal-polyol method from Ni(CH3COO)(2)center dot 4H(2)O in mixed solvents of 1,4-butanediol and water at 200 degrees C for 24 h. The NiO with similar morphology was obtained by a simple thermal decomposition of the precursor (beta-Ni(OH)(2)) at 400 degrees C for 3 h in air. The products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and differential scanning calorimetric analysis (DSC). We expect that this hydrothermal-polyol method may be extended to the preparation of nanostructures of other kinds of metal oxides. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved