Bimetallic single-source precursor for the synthesis of pure nanocrystalline room temperature-stabilized β-NiMoO4

A novel aqueous-based, single-source precursor (SSP) method for the synthesis of pure, room temperature-stable, nanocrystalline β-NiMoO4 with controlled composition was developed. The soft - chemical nature of the synthesis approach and the crystal structure features of the bimetallic hydroxyisobutyrate precursor were found to play an essential role in the fabrication of the target metastable oxide under mild synthetic conditions.