Synthesis of nickel and cobalt sulfide nanoparticles using a low cost sonochemical method

Abstract

Nickel and cobalt sulfides are promising materials in different cutting-edge research areas like solar cells, supercapacitors, catalysts, and electrode materials. Nickel and cobalt sulfides with various stoichiometries have been synthesized sonochemically from Ni(CH3COO)2 ∙ 4H2O, Co(CH3COO)2 ∙ 2H2O and different sulfur precursors using a direct immersion ultrasonic probe. The products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) including EDX analysis, IR and UV–Vis spectroscopy and elemental analysis. Following products have been obtained: NiS, Ni3S4, CoS1.097 and Co9S8, with average crystallite sizes in the range 7−30 nm. Effects of different reaction conditions on the size, morphology and optical band-gap energy were evaluated. Optical band-gap energies in the range 3.3 eV−3.8 eV were observed for the obtained nanoparticles.

Keywords

• Materials science
• Inorganic chemistry
• Nanotechnology