title: Scalable synthesis of urchin- and flowerlike hierarchical NiO microspheres and their electrochemical property for lithium storage.
abstract: A nickel salt-urea-H2O ternary system has been developed for the large-scale synthesis of hierarchical α-Ni(OH)2 microspheres, the solid precursor for the subsequent topotactic transition to NiO upon calcination. In this facile synthetic system, hierarchical structure is self-assembled under the cooperative direction of urea and anions in nickel salts. Thus, simply tuning the Ni salts leads to the selective construction of urchin and flowerlike hierarchical α-Ni(OH)2 and NiO microspheres consisting of radial 1D nanowires and 2D nanoplates, respectively. The obtained NiO microspheres possessing accessible nanopores, excellent structural stability and large surface area up to 130 m(2)/g show promising electrochemical performance in anodic lithium storage for lithium-ion battery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, NUSNNI-NanoCore, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Jia Hong
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Qizhao
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Zhen Yu
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Darren
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Neo
authors.forename: Xing Zhu
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang