Facile synthesis of single-crystal nanoporous α-NiS nanosheets from Ni(OH)2 counterpart

We reported a facile synthesis of free-standing single-crystal nanoporous alpha-NiS nanosheets. The synthesis involves the hydrothermal preparation of single-crystal Ni(OH)(2) nanosheets and subsequent conversion into nanoporous alpha-NiS by heat treatment in H2S gas at moderate temperature. The synthesized materials were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, selective area electron diffraction, nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherm, and X-ray diffraction. Results revealed that the synthesized nanoporous NiS nanosheets were single crystal with size of similar to 250 nm in diameter and 25 nm in thickness. The nanoporous NiS nanosheets also have a large specific surface area of 60 m(2)/g and a pore size of 3.4 nm, promising various applications such as photocatalyst, adsorption, solar cells, high performance supercapacitors, and rechargeable batteries. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.