A modified sol–gel process-derived highly nanocrystalline mesoporous NiO with narrow pore size distribution

Highly nanocrystalline mesoporous NiO with narrow monomodal pore size distribution was synthesized for the first time under mild conditions through a facile route of modified sol–gel process with surfactant-assisted templating technique. By controlling the hydrolysis and condensation steps of nickel methoxypropylate modified with acetylacetone in the presence of laurylamine hydrochloride surfactant aqueous solution, the nanocrystalline NiO with monomodal mesoporous characteristic could be finally attained. The synthesized material was methodically characterized by thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG–DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption–desorption, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area analysis, Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BJH) pore size distribution analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and selected-area electron diffraction (SAED). The particle size of the synthesized NiO in nanosized range obtained from the SEM and TEM micrographs agreed well with the crystallite size estimated from the XRD pattern. N2 adsorption–desorption isotherm and SEM observation verified that the synthesized NiO possessed mesoporous structure. The exhibiting hysteresis pattern of the isotherm with single loop further indicated the existence of monomodal mesopore. The extremely narrow pore size distribution with mean pore diameter in the mesopore region of the synthesized NiO nanocrystal was also confirmed by the BJH analysis.