Mixed surfactant controlled syntheses of solid Ni2P and yolk-shell Ni12P5 via a hydrothermal route and their photocatalytic properties

In this paper, Ni2P solid spheres and Ni12P5 yolk-shell microspheres have been fabricated successfully via two different hydrothermal systems, using sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate/sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDBS/SDS) and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate/cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (SDBS/CTAB) as stabilized system, respectively. The yolk-shell Ni12P5 spheres exhibited the size of around 900 nm, which made up mainly the shells with a thickness of 110 nm and the cores with a diameter of 350 nm on average. With the heating time increasing from 0 to 36 h, Ni12P5 structures transformed from yolk-shell microspheres to hollow spheres. Based on a series of surfactant-dependent and time-dependent experiments, the optimum proportion of mixed surfactant and the formation mechanism of Ni12P5 yolk-shell microstructures were discussed. Importantly, the as-prepared Ni2P and Ni12P5 possess excellent photocatalytic activities for both degradation Congo red (CR) and Safranine T (ST) dyes. Crown Copyright (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.