Journal
CRYSTENGCOMM
Volume 14, Issue 18, Pages 5963-5973Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/c2ce25622c
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Scientific Foundation of China [51102215]
- Natural Scientific Foundation of Zhejiang Province [Y4100022]
- Key Innovative Team of Magnetic Materials in Zhejiang Province [2011R09006-06]
- Science and Technology Projects from Jinhua City [2010A12066]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The morphological modulation and phase conversion of alpha- and beta-Ni(OH)(2) complex architectures with varying subunits from nanopetals, nanocolumns, nanocones, and nanoflakes were investigated using a facile coordination homogeneous precipitation method in the Ni(NO3)(2+) urea system. Slow growth and nucleation rates due to relatively low reaction temperatures and molar ratios of CO(NH2)(2) to Ni(NO3)(2) induced the formation of uniform flower-like alpha-Ni(OH)(2) architectures. Such flower-like architectures originated from subordinate nanopetals that grow perpendicular to the primordial nanopetal surface and are driven by minimum surface free energy effects. At relatively high reaction temperatures, flower-like alpha-Ni(OH)(2) can transform into beta-Ni(OH)(2) microspheres assembled from nanocolumns, nanocones, and even nanoflakes by varying the reaction time. These processes could be related to the synergetic effect of the anisotropic growth and continuous increase in mass transportation along the [001] direction. Flower-like alpha-Ni(OH)(2) exhibited better electrochemical activity for glucose oxidation compared with beta-Ni(OH)(2) microspheres consisting of nanocones because of its special flower-like morphology with high specific surface areas, well-ordered pores, and layered structures intercalated by water and anions. The approach in this study can be used to fabricate other metal hydroxide nanostructures. Flower-like Ni(OH)(2) nanoarchitectures have potential applications in rechargeable batteries, photonic catalysis, and non-enzymatic sensors for glucose.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available