Surfactant-Free Facile Synthesis of Nickel Oxalate Monodispersed Particles in Novel Morphologies

Abstract

The surfactant or shape modifier used in the synthesis of monodispersed uniform fine particles affected the performance of the prepared powder in its applications. The present investigation is related to synthesizing colloidal uniform fine particles of nickel oxalate in novel morphologies under an optimized set of reaction conditions without using any surfactant or shape modifier. SEM results revealed that the reactant concentration significantly affected the characteristics of the precipitated solids, which ranged from gel to dispersion of discrete particles. Particles of uniform morphological features were obtained under an optimized set of experimental conditions, i.e., reactant concentration, temperature, aging time, etc. The molar ratio of the precursors affected the particle’s growth mechanism as the spherical morphology of the particles changed to a cubic shape by increasing nickel ion concentration in the recipe at 25 oC. The cubic morphology transformed into toffee shape bigger particles of a 0.5 axial ratio by increasing the reaction mediumand#39;s thermal energy. The synthesized particles were characterized by various physical techniques, which confirmed the product as the monodispersed pure NiC2O4.2H2O particles.