Synthesis of Nickel and Nickel Hydroxide Nanopowders by Simplified Chemical Reduction

Nickel nanopowders were synthesized by a chemical reduction of nickel ions with hydrazine hydrate at pH similar to 12.5. Sonication of the solutions created a temperature of 54-65 degrees C to activate the reduction reaction of nickel nanoparticles. The solution pH affected the composition of the resulting nanoparticles. Nickel hydroxide nanoparticles were formed from an alkaline solution (pH similar to 10) of nickel-hydrazine complexed by dropwise titration. X-ray diffraction of the powder and the analysis of the resulting Williamson-Hall plots revealed that the particle size of the powders ranged from 12 to 14 nm. Addition of polyvinylpyrrolidone into the synthesis decreased the nickel nanoparticle size to approximately 7 nm. Dynamic light scattering and scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the particles were in the nanometer range. The structure of the synthesized nickel and nickel hydroxide nanoparticles was identified by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.