Coprecipitation of nickel zinc malonate: A facile and reproducible synthesis route for Ni{sub 1−x}Zn{sub x}O nanoparticles and Ni{sub 1−x}Zn{sub x}O/ZnO nanocomposites via pyrolysis

Journal Article · Thu Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Solid State Chemistry

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JSSC.2015.07.040· OSTI ID:22486826

Kenfack Tsobnang, Patrice ^[1]; Magnin, Delphine; Hermans, Sophie; Delcorte, Arnaud ^[2]; Lambi Ngolui, John ^[3]

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1. Inorganic Chemistry Department, University of Yaoundé I, B.P. 812, Yaoundé (Cameroon)
2. Institut de la Matière Condensée et des Nanosciences, Université Catholique de Louvain, Croix du Sud 1, 1348 Louvain-La-Neuve (Belgium)
3. Chemistry Department, Higher Teacher Training College, University of Yaoundé I, B.P. 47, Yaoundé (Cameroon)

Nanoparticles of Ni{sub 1−x}Zn{sub x}O and Ni{sub 1−x}Zn{sub x}O/ZnO, which can be good candidates for selective gas sensors, were successfully obtained via a two-step synthetic route, in which the nickel zinc malonate precursor was first synthesized by co-precipitation from an aqueous solution, followed by pyrolysis in air at a relatively low temperature (~500 °C). The precursor was characterized by ICP-AES, FTIR and TG and the results indicate the molecular structure of the precursor to be compatible with Ni{sub 1−x}Zn{sub x}(OOCCH{sub 2}COO)·2H{sub 2}O. The decomposition product, characterized using various techniques (FTIR, XRD, ToF-SIMS, SEM, TEM and XPS), was established to be a doped nickel oxide (Ni{sub 1−x}Zn{sub x}O for 0.01≤x≤0.1) and a composite material (Ni{sub 1−x}Zn{sub x}O/ZnO for 0.2≤x≤0.5). To elucidate the form in which the Zn is present in the NiO structure, three analytical techniques were employed: ToF-SIMS, XRD and XPS. While ToF SIMS provided a direct evidence of the presence of Zn in the NiO crystal structure, XRD showed that Zn actually substitutes Ni in the structure and XPS is a bit more specific by indicating that the Zn is present in the form of Zn{sup 2+} ions. - Highlights: • Coprecipitation synthesis of nickel zinc malonate single bath precursor was achieved. • The as synthesized precursors are an homogeneous mixture of nickel and zinc malonate. • XRD, ToF-SIMS, XPS, SEM and TEM was used to characterized decomposition products. • Ni{sub 1−x}Zn{sub x}O nanoparticles (0.01≤x≤0.1) formed after pyrolysis (~500 °C) of precursor. • Ni{sub 1−x}Zn{sub x}O/ZnO nanocomposite (0.2≤x≤0.5) formed after pyrolysis at 500 °C of precursor.

• OSTI ID: 22486826
• Journal Information: Journal of Solid State Chemistry, Journal Name: Journal of Solid State Chemistry Vol. 230; ISSN 0022-4596; ISSN JSSCBI
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS
AUGER ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
COMPOSITE MATERIALS
COPRECIPITATION
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DOPED MATERIALS
FOURIER TRANSFORMATION
INFRARED SPECTRA
ION MICROPROBE ANALYSIS
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
MOLECULAR STRUCTURE
NANOCOMPOSITES
NANOPARTICLES
NICKEL OXIDES
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SYNTHESIS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
ZINC OXIDES