Effect of Temperature on the Synthesis of Nano-Nickel Particles

The focus of this study is to observe the effect of temperature on the size and morphology of nano-nickel particles. Nano-nickel particles have been prepared by a simple polymer-surfactant interaction of a cationic polymer poly vinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) with an anionic surfactant, sodium-dodecyl-sulphate SDS at different temperatures i.e. 60℃, 80℃ and 100℃. Nano-sized nickel particles were synthesized by using nickel chloride as the precursor, hydrazine as the reducing agent in the presence of SDS and PVP in a strong basic medium (pH-10.2). Our research shows that the rate of reduction increases as the reaction temperature was increased from 60℃ to 100℃. Finer particles of diameters less than 10nm were formed as the temperature was increased from 60 to 100℃. The morphology of the synthesized nano-nickel particles also varied as the temperature was increased. The concentration of nickel chloride and SDS/PVP was kept constant in all these experiments. The nano-sized nickel particles synthesized were characterized by using SEM and HRTEM.