β-nickel hydroxide nanosheets and their thermal decomposition to nickel oxide nanosheets

Powders of single-crystalline beta-nickel hydroxide (beta-Ni(OH)(2)) nanosheets with the hexagonal structure have been successfully synthesized by the hydrothermal method at 200 degreesC using nickel acetate as the nickel source and aqueous ammonia as both an alkaline and complexing reagent. The yields of beta-Ni(OH)(2) nanosheet powders were higher than 92.4%. This method is simple and low-cost for large-scale production of powders of single-crystalline beta-Ni(OH)(2) nanosheets. Single-crystalline nickel oxide (NiO) nanosheets have been synthesized by thermal decomposition method at 400 degreesC for 2 h using single-crystalline beta-Ni(OH)(2) nanosheets as the precursor. The sheet shape of beta-Ni(OH)(2) was sustained after thermal decomposition to NiO. The as-prepared products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetric analysis (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TG).