Facile synthesis of Ni/NiO nanocomposites via thermal decomposition

In this study, Ni/NiO nanocomposites were prepared using simple, environment-friendly and low-cost solid-state thermal decomposition method from nickel (II) Schiff base complex at 400 and 500°C for 3 hours. The Ni/NiO nanocomposites were characterized with Fourier transformed infra-red spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-Ray fluorescence (XRF). Results of XRD and XRF confirmed that the nanocomposite products contain a mixture of nickel and nickel oxide. The Ni or NiO content varied with the temperature used for the synthesis. Upon increasing the temperature from 400 to 500°C, the amount of NiO was found to be increased due to a complete oxidation of Ni to NiO. The TEM images demonstrated that the composites were spherical with a distribution size of about 10-30 nm. In addition, the products displayed reasonable electrochemical performance.