A facile approach to the synthesis of high-quality NiO nanorods: electrochemical and antibacterial properties

This report describes a new approach to successfully synthesize high-quality nickel oxide (NiO) nanorods with an average diameter of about 60 nm and a length of less than one micrometre viathermal decomposition of a precursor complex nickel benzoate dihydrazinate at 100 °C. The structural features, crystallinity, purity and morphology of the as-synthesized NiO nanorods were investigated by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The electrochemical property of the as-synthesized NiO nanorods was investigated to determine their suitability as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. The nanorod electrode exhibited better reversibility and high capacity. In addition, the nanorods showed good antibacterial properties. The magnetic measurement demonstrated that the NiO nanorods are ferromagnetic and may be used in the fields of MR imaging and magnetic drug delivery.