Highly efficient nickel fluoride nanoparticles with enhance electrochemical properties

Due to their unique physical and chemical characteristics, nanostructured materials of various architectures have demonstrated tremendous promise in the fields of energy and the environment. In this study, the reverse micellar emulsion approach is used to prepare cubic NiF₂ nanoparticles (NPs) in order to produce self-assembled NiF₂ nanostructures with a certain morphology. Hydrated and anhydrous NiF₂ NPs are prepared by studying the key reaction parameters, such as changing water to surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate) ratio, synthesis temperature, and the amount of solvent (cyclohexanol). The hydrated NiF₂ NPs were sintered at 400 °C for 3 h under nitrogen gas at 5.0 mbar pressure to achieve the anhydrous NiF₂ NPs. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies reveal the tetragonal crystal structure with a crystallite size of 60 to 77 nm. While scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies show the cubic morphology of as-prepared NiF₂ NPs. The cyclic voltammetry was performed to determine oxidation/reduction, current, and reversibility of both anhydrous and hydrated NiF₂ NPs. The cyclic voltammetry result shows that the electrochemical activities of sintered NiF₂ NPs were greatly improved up to ∼0.9 Ah because of their structures, morphology, and size compared to pre-sintering NPs.