Chemical Synthesis and Characterization of Nickel Powder

The synthesis of magnetic Ni nanoparticles is being investigated by the reduction of NiO nanoparticles in the presence of hydrogen gas. In this study, nanocrystalline NiO particles have been synthesized by a homogenous carbonate precipitation method employing nickel electrolyte (NiSO4) as the source of nickel and ammonium hydrogen carbonate as the precipitating agent. Nickel electrolyte (NiSO4) was obtained after processing of sea nodules by the roasting-ammonia leaching-solvent extraction method. The physicochemical characterization of NiO and Ni particles, i.e., bright field image by transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) study, and magnetic measurements by vibration sample magnetometer (VSM) are studied. The particles are observed to be superparamagnetic. DOI: 10.1007/s11663-010-9459-0 (C) The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International 2010