Synthesis and characterization of Co-precipitated nickel phosphate [Ni3(PO4)2] nanoparticles prepared at varying precursor concentrations

This work investigated the structural, morphological, elemental, optical, and electrochemical characteristics of nickel phosphate nanoparticles co-precipitated at varying molar concentrations. Structural results gave monoclinic crystalline phase with nanorod morphology. EDX plots confirmed deposition of constituent element: nickel, phosphorus and oxygen. The films exhibited good absorbance feature with optical energy band gap values ranging from 1.58 eV to 2.2 eV. Good cyclic reversibility as obtained using 0.1 M of sodium hydroxide as electrolyte. The specific capacitance values of the electrodes ranged from 624.38 F/g to 1017.2 F/g at a scan rate of 1 mV/s. The Ni3(PO4)2 electrode prepared at 0.3 M recorded maximum energy and power densities of 239.49 Wh/kg and 2.52 W/kg respectively. The synthesized samples find potential application in optical and electrochemical devices.