Fabrication of β-NiS hollow sphere consisting of nanoflakes via a hydrothermal process

Hexagonal structured β-NiS hollow spheres consisting of nanoflakes were successfully prepared by a dodecanethiol-assisted hydrothermal process at 180 °C for 12 h, employing l-cysteine and nickel sulfate hexahydrate as the precursors. The synthesized product was characterized by XRD, FESEM, TEM, HRTEM, and ED. The experiment results show that the sulfur source and dodecanethiol play key roles on the formation of the morphology of β-NiS hollow spheres. And the formation mechanism of nickel sulfide hollow spheres may be involved with dodecanethiol micelles as template and the Ostwald ripening process.