Abstract
Nickel hydroxides have numerous applications including as battery electrodes, electrochromic devices, electrochemical sensors, and supercapacitors and in such processes as photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and electrosynthesis. A simple solution growth process for production of beta-Ni(OH)2 has been developed. The process involves dissolution of nickel hydroxide powders in concentrated ammonia to form [Ni(NH3)6](OH)2. If ammonia is allowed to evaporate from the resulting solution, the dissolution process is reversed and crystalline films of beta-Ni(OH)2 are deposited that consist of closely packed micron-sized clumps of thin plates. Addition of sodium aluminate to the solution makes it possible to also prepare alpha nickel hydroxide as free standing membranes at air–water interface. The overall procedure can be described as a green process since it eliminates the environmental burden of by-product production because Ni(OH)2 is simply dissolved and transformed into the desired material without producing waste salts such as ammonium nitrate or ammonium chloride that would be produced by a conventional precipitation approach for Ni(OH)2 membrane or film preparation.
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Vecoven, A., Rahman, D.R. & Apblett, A.W. Green Process for Preparation of Nickel Hydroxide Films and Membranes. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 29, 5602–5608 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-020-05100-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-020-05100-5