Synthesis of hierarchical Ni11(HPO3)8(OH)6 superstructures based on nanorods through a soft hydrothermal route

In this paper, we reported the successful synthesis of hierarchical Ni-11(HPO3)(8)(OH)(6) superstructures based on nanorods via a facile hydrothermal route, employing NiCl2 center dot 6H(2)O and NaH2PO2 center dot H2O as the reactants in the presences of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and CH3COONa center dot 3H(2)O. The reaction was carried out at 170 degrees C for 10 h. HPO32- ions were provided via the dismutation reaction of H2PO2- ions in a weak basic solution. The as-obtained products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Some factors influencing the morphology of the hierarchical Ni-11(HPO3)(8)(OH)(6) nanorods, such as the reaction temperature, time, the amounts of PVP and CH3COONa, and the initial concentration of Ni2+ ions, were systematically investigated. A possible growth mechanism was proposed based on experimental results. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.