Synthesis of Nickel Selenide Nanoparticles as Cathode Material for Zink Ion Batteries and Study of Their Optical Properties

Porosity of electrode materials has been proven to be very significant in enhancing the performance of Zn-ion batteries (ZIB) in recent studies. On a positive electrode, porosity improves its kinetics by faster electron transport and richer electro active reaction sites. On a negative electrode, porous structure provides increased surface area and reduced local current density, both favorable to the performance of ZIB. Nickel Selenide (NiSe) nanoparticles (NPs) can be considered as more suitable cathode materials also due to their smaller band gap and higher conductivity. We have synthesized NiSe nanoparticles using a chemical method with octylamine as a surfactant with crystallite size of 36 nm. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images shows the formation of spikelike structure making the nanoparticles highly porous making them even more suitable as a cathode material.