Narrow Results

Bimetallic structure of nanoparticles is of great interest due to their extraordinary properties, especially in combining the specialty of the core and its shell. This work reports the effect of pH on the synthesis of Ni–Au (nickel–gold) bimetallic nanoparticles. The synthesis involves a two-step process where Ni nanoparticles were first synthesized using polyol method with hydrazine as the reducing agent. This was followed by the process of reducing to Au in the solution containing pre-prepared Ni to form Ni–Au bimetallic nanoparticles using sodium citrate as the reducing agent. The results obtained from Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) show that the process can possibly produce either core-shell structure, or mixture of Ni and Au nanoparticles. Magnetic property of core-shell structure investigated using Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) demonstrated typical characteristic of ferromagnetic with an increased magnetization as compared to Ni nanoparticles. The saturation magnetization (M_s) and coercivity (H_c) were obtained as 19.1 emu/g and 222.3 Oe, respectively.

LiFePO₄ nanocrystals were synthesized in various polyol media without any further post-heat treatment. The LiFePO₄ samples synthesized using three different polyol media namely, diethylene glycol (DEG), triethylene glycol (TEG), and tetraethylene glycol (TTEG), exhibited plate and rod-shaped structures with average sizes of 50–500 nm. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns were indexed on the basis of an olivine structure (space group: Pnma). The samples prepared in DEG, TEG, and TTEG polyol media showed reversible capacities of 123, 155, and 166 mAh/g, respectively, at current density of 0.1 mA/cm² with no capacity fading and exhibited excellent capacity retention up to the 50th cycle. In particular, the samples showed excellent performances at high rates of 30 and 60 C with high capacity retention. It is assumed that the nanometer size materials (~50 nm) possessing a highly crystalline nature may generate improved performance at high rate current densities.