Plant Extract Mediated Synthesis of Nickel Oxide Nanoparticles

Abstract

The present study reports the successful synthesis of nickel oxide nanoparticles using Vernonia amygdalina plant leaf extracts as a chelating agent and nickel (II) chloride hexahydrate (NiCl2•6H2O) as precursor. The synthesized powder was gray black in color and annealed at 500 °C for 2 hours to obtain nickel oxide nanoparticles. Characterization techniques such as powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to study the structure and morphology of the nanoparticles. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns revealed that nickel oxide nanoparticles with an average crystallite size of 17.86nm were synthesized. Scanning electron microscope images show that the nanoparticles have octahedral structure. Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer analysis revealed that the strongest bond at 1094.8cm-1 corresponds to stretching vibration mode of Ni-O nanoparticles.