Synthesis, characterization, and magnetic properties of flower-like nickel materials

Flower-like Ni particles about 1 μm in diameter have been synthesized by means of a mild chemical solution method with a soft template of hexadecyltrimethy-lammonium bromide (CTAB). Analysis of the structures by scanning electron microscopy (SHM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) reveal that they are composed of particles with an average diameter of 250 nm. The particles are composed of grains 20-30 nm in size. Based on a series of experiments, the growing process of the flower-like structure is described briefly. The coercivity of the as-grown product at 300 K is about 90 Oe. It is small in comparison with that of the reported flower-like microstructure composed of nickel nanotips, ~232 Oe. This is attributed to its shape anisotropy and polycrystalline structure.