SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF T102@NiO NANOSTRUCTURES

Abstract

A method to synthesize Ti02@NiO core shell nanostructures was developed for a number of applications such as photocatalysis, DSSC, biotechnogical fields etc. The square faced NiO nanorods were synthesized by thermal decomposition of nickel oxalate dihydrate nanorods, which was prepared by reverse micellar route. The two microemulsions contains oil phase (iso octane as non polar solvent, n-butanol as co-surfactant and CTAB surfactant) and 0.1 M salt solution as water phase reacts to form nickel oxalate dihydrate nanorods. TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrolysis of titanium tetra isopropoxide (TT'IP). TiO2 nanoparticles were - coated on the surface of NiO nanorods by electrostatic interaction and then product was annealed at suitable temperature to get Ti02@NiO core shell nanorods. These nanorods were characterized by PXRD, FESEM, TEM, UV-Vis spectroscopy, SQUID. In another study, NiO nanoparticles were fabricated through the chemical precipitation method by using nickel nitrate, sodium hydroxide as precursor materials and CTAB as surfactant. PXRD data gives the primary characterization about the crystalline NiO nanostructures. TiO2 coating on these nanostructures was done by using titanium tetra isopropoxide as precursor and NH40H as capping agent. The shell of T102 can be analyzed by FESEM and PXRD, and so there is pre calculated amount of precursor has been used. Core shell structure reduces the surface charge recombination as TiO2 coating acts as a blocking layer for electron to reduce back recombination. Using these nanostructures, a good the photocatalytic performance is expected.