Title

Synthesis of spherical NiO nanoparticles through a novel biosurfactant mediated emulsion technique

Authors

Authors

P. Palanisamy;A. M. Raichur

Comments

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Abstract

Spherical nickel oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by microemulsion technique using rhamnolipids as the surfactant along with n-heptane and water, Nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH)(2)) particles were first formed which were then calcined to obtain nickel oxide (NiO) particles. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) studies revealed that the synthesized nickel hydroxide particles were spherical in shape with stacked lamellar sheets. Nickel hydroxide was converted to nickel oxide by calcinations at 600 degrees C for 3 h and was confirmed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) showed that the nickel oxide particles were crystalline and of uniform size. The effect of pH on particle size was investigated and it was found that the particle size decreased from 86 +/- 8 nm at pH 11.6 to 47 +/- 5 nm at pH 12.5. A novel method using rhamnolipid biosurfactant for microemulsion synthesis has been demonstrated which offers an eco-friendly alternative to conventional microemulsion technique based oil organic surfactants. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Journal Title

Materials Science & Engineering C-Biomimetic and Supramolecular Systems

Volume

29

Issue/Number

1

Publication Date

1-1-2009

Document Type

Article

First Page

199

Last Page

204

WOS Identifier

WOS:000262136700032

ISSN

0928-4931

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