Nickel nanoparticle-decorated reduced graphene oxide/WO nanocomposite - a promising candidate for gas sensing.

We report for the first time the combination of WO sensing elements with a non-noble metal-carbon composite, namely a nickel metal nanoparticle-carbon composite (Ni@rGO). Previous work with WO had used either NiO (as part of the WO lattice), solely carbon, Pd-surface decorated WO (Pd@WO), or Pd or Pt@carbon@WO. We demonstrate the gas response for pure WO, rGO/WO and Ni@rGO/WO sensing elements towards NO and acetone in air as well as towards CO in N.

Synthesis of nickel/gallium nanoalloys using a dual-source approach in 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazole ionic liquids.

NiGa is a catalyst for the semihydrogenation of alkynes. Here we show the influence of different dispersion times before microwave-induced decomposition of the precursors on the phase purity, as well as the influence of the time of microwave-induced decomposition on the crystallinity of the NiGa nanoparticles. Microwave-induced co-decomposition of all-hydrocarbon precursors [Ni(COD)] (COD = 1,5-cyclooctadiene) and GaCp* (Cp* = pentamethylcyclopentadienyl) in the ionic liquid [BMIm][NTf] selectively yields small intermetallic Ni/Ga nanocrystals of 5 ± 1 nm as derived from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) and supported by energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), selected-area energy diffraction (SAED) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).