Synthesis and X-ray structural characterization of NiO nanoparticles obtained through gelatin

Nanoparticles of fcc-NiO phase were obtained by heating the dried resin resultant of a mixture of gelatin and NiCl2 · 6H2O in aqueous solution. The average particle size and microstrain were calculated from the line broadening of X-ray powder diffraction peaks, and these values were between 15 nm and 78 nm, and 0.056% and 0.172%, respectively. The Rietveld refinement method was applied to all diffraction patterns. The particle size, obtained from this procedure, changes as a function of temperature, heating time and the remarkable reduction due to the addition of NaOH to the solution, which can be attributed to the presence of NaCl crystals and carbon encapsulating NiO nanoparticles during the heating. The heating temperature was in the range of 350–700 °C. Thermo-gravimetric analysis showed that the majority of organic fraction starts to disappear after 300 °C.