Synthesis and coating of silica supported Nickel Oxide particles over ceramic pre-forms through sol–gel derived layered double hydroxides

Silica supported Nickel Oxide fine particles have been synthesized through sol–gel derived Ni–Al Layered Double Hydroxide (LDH) and coated over honeycomb ceramic pre-forms through dip-coating technique. The powder products of supported materials have low crystallinity, negative zeta potential, exhibit high dispersibility and suitable for further processing by coating techniques. The powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns have shown that there is an increase of basal spacing by 3.02 Å in acetylacetonate intercalated LDH. The particles of <2 μm size increase with the rise of LDH component in the composite. The particles of NiO structure formed on decomposition of composites have crystallite size <20 nm. Due to the interlayer reduction of NiO crystallites, the unsupported LDH on calcination gives Ni⁰ particles of size around 4.18 nm. The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) patterns of coated supported suspensions over ceramic substrates show formation of thin, crack free coats with uniform distribution of particles.