Ionic liquid-assisted synthesis of nickel oxide magnetic nanoparticles

Abstract

In this paper, the synthesis of nickel oxide nanoparticles using a novel synthesis medium namely 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethane sulfonate [BMIM][TfO] ionic liquid. Ionic liquids have been used as a potential electrolyte/medium for the nanoparticle synthesis, especially for their suitability at high temperature withstandability. During the NiO nanoparticle synthesis, Ni(OH)2 precipitates first consequently NiO nanoparticles is formed upon calcinations at 400 °C. Nickel hydroxide and oxide formation was confirmed by XRD, FT-IR and TGA results of the NiO as precipitated and calcinated samples. The SEM image of the calcinated sample shows the average particle size is 45 nm with small rock salt-like morphology. The synthesized NiO nanoparticle exhibits an excellent superparamagnetic behaviour without showing any coercivity. The magnetic property of NiO nanoparticle was studied with vibrating sample magnetometer.