Preparation and characterization of NiO nanorods by thermal decomposition of NiC2O4 precursor

Synthesis of nickel oxide (NiO) nanorods was achieved by thermal decomposition of the precursor of NiC₂O₄ obtained via chemical reaction between Ni(CH₃COO)₂·2H₂O and H₂C₂O₄·2H₂O in the presence of surfactant nonyl phenyl ether (9)/(5) (NP-9/5) and NaCl flux. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) were used to characterize the structure features and chemical compositions of the as-made nanorods. The results showed that the as-prepared nanorods is composed of NiO with diameter of 10–80 nm, and lengths ranging from 1 to 3 micrometers. The mechanism of formation of NiO nanorods is also discussed.