Dialectical Observation of Controllable Electrodeposited Ni Nanocones: the Unification of Local Disorder and Overall Order

Dense and ordered Ni nanocones with regular spiral textures had been successfully synthesized via a simple and inexpensive electrodeposition process in the solution containing sodium chloride (NaCl), nickel chloride hexahydrate (NiCl₂·6H₂O), and boric acid (H₃BO₃). After analyzing the microstructure, a more optimized possible growth mechanism of Ni nanocones was proposed, in which the growth process was divided into local and global aspects, named multi-dimensional growth mechanism of global order and local disorder. In an area small enough, any subtle state changes would cause disorder of Ni atom arrangement, which made the local microstructure appear disordered, but from a macro perspective, the difference between two adjacent disorders caused by different statuses was too small to be well reflected, only when the difference in state was large enough can the change be observed in the macroscopic appearance, so the global was orderly. Meanwhile, we found that the microstructure of Ni nanocones would be controlled in the electrodeposition solution by adjusting the experiment parameters such as the concentration of NaCl, NiCl₂·6H₂O, and H₃BO₃, which indirectly determined the microstructure in a large extent via controlling the generation of intermediate products and the pH.

Well-aligned Nd-doped SnO2 nanorod layered arrays: preparation, characterization and enhanced alcohol-gas sensing performance

Nd-doped SnO₂ nanoarrays with novel nanostructures of double nanorod layers prepared by a facile hydrothermal route greatly improve alcohol-sensing performance.

Novel synthetic strategy towards NiO/Ni3N composite hollow nanofibers for superior NOx gas-sensing properties at room temperature

The prepared NiO hollow nanofibers, NiO/Ni₃N hollow nanofibers and Ni₃N nanofibers exhibit good sensing performances toward NO_x at room temperature.

Shape-selective synthesis of NiO nanostructures for hydrazine oxidation as a nonenzymatic amperometric sensor

In this work, we demonstrate the shape-dependent electrocatalytic activity of NiO NPs towards hydrazine oxidation.

Preparation of NiO two-dimensional grainy films and their high-performance gas sensors for ammonia detection

Semiconductor NiO two-dimensional grainy films on glass substrates are shown to be an ammonia-sensing devices with excellent comprehensive performance, such as the good stability, short response time, outstanding recovery performance, excellent sensitivity, and selectivity. The morphology and structure analysis of gas sensing materials indicated that the as-fabricated NiO films was uniform and highly ordered porous structure on substrates, which composed of small size particles with diameters ranging from 8 to 30 nm. The shells of these particles were ultrathin amorphous NiO plates, and the core of each particle was face-centered cubic single crystal structure. In the gas sensing performance tests, we found that the excellent electron transport and interconnection properties of sensing films improved the stability and recovery performance of sensors, and porous surface structure increased the specific surface area of sensing films leading to fast response and excellent sensitivity for sensors. Meanwhile, this sensors owned outstanding selectivity toward ammonia which could be because NiO-sensing films had higher binding affinity for the electron-donating ammonia.

High-performance, room-temperature, and no-humidity-impact ammonia sensor based on heterogeneous nickel oxide and zinc oxide nanocrystals

NiO nanocones decorated with ZnO nanothorns on NiO foil substrates are shown to be an ammonia sensor with excellent comprehensive performance, which could, in real-time, detect and monitor NH3 in the surrounding environment. Gas-sensing measurements indicate that assembling nanocones decorated with nanothorns on NiO foil substrate is an effective strategy for simultaneously promoting the stability, reproducibility, and sensitivity of the sensor, because the NiO foil substrate as a whole can quickly and stably transfer electrons between the gas molecules and the sensing materials and the large specific surface area of both nanocones and nanothorns provide good accessibility of the gas molecules to the sensing materials. Moreover, p-type NiO, with majority charge carriers of holes, has higher binding affinity for the electron-donating ammonia, resulting in a significant increase in selectivity toward NH3 over other organic gases. Compared with the NiO nanowires and pure NiO nanocones, the heterogeneous NiO nanocones/ZnO nanothorns exhibit less dependence on the temperature and humidity in response/recovery speed and sensitivity of sensing NH3. Our investigation indicates that two factors are responsible for reducing the dependence on the gas sensing characteristics under various environmental conditions. One is that the n-type ZnO nanothorns growing on the surface of nanocones, with majority charge carriers of electrons, speed up adsorption and desorption of gas molecules. The other is that the abundant cone-shaped and thornlike superstructures on the substrate are favorable for constructing a hydrophobic surface, which prevents the gas sensing material from being wetted.

Real-time detection of chlorine gas using Ni/Si shell/core nanowires

We demonstrate the selective adsorption of Ni/Si shell/core nanowires (Ni-Si NWs) with a Ni outer shell and a Si inner core on molecularly patterned substrates and their application to sensors for the detection of chlorine gas, a toxic halogen gas. The molecularly patterned substrates consisted of polar SiO2 regions and nonpolar regions of self-assembled monolayers of octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS). The NWs showed selective adsorption on the polar SiO2 regions, avoiding assembly on the nonpolar OTS regions. Utilizing these assembled Ni-Si NWs, we demonstrate a sensor for the detection of chlorine gas. The utilization of Ni-Si NWs resulted in a much larger sensor response of approximately 23% to 5 ppm of chlorine gas compared to bare Ni NWs, due to the increased surface-to-volume ratio of the Ni-Si shell/core structure. We expect that our sensor will be utilized in the future for the real-time detection of halogen gases including chlorine with high sensitivity and fast response.