Nickel 2 chloride hexahydrate

All materials were used as received unless otherwise noted. Acetic acid (≥99.7%), cadmium(II) acetate dihydrate (98%), 3-chloroperoxybenzoic acid (m-CPBA, 77% max), copper(II) sulphate pentahydrate (>98%), dichloromethane (≥99.5%), ferrocene (98%), lead(II) acetate trihydrate (>99%), mercury(II) chloride (99%), zinc(II) nitrate hexahydrate (98%) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich, MeReO₃ from Strem Chemical, toluene (99.98%) from OmniSolv EMD, HCl (1.0 N) from EMD Chemicals, cobalt(II) chloride hexahydrate (97%), nickel(II) chloride hexahydrate from Acros Organics, quartz wool (12 µm diameter), and Ar and H₂(5%)/Ar high purity gases were purchased from Matheson TRIGAS. Triphenylphosphine (Aldrich) was recrystallized from EtOH.

Acenaphthene (Ace) (purity > 99%), phenanthrene (Phe) (purity ≥ 98%), iron(II) chloride tetrahydrate (purity > 99%), iron(III) chloride (purity > 98%), nickel(II) chloride hexahydrate (purity ≥ 97%), oxalic acid (purity ≥ 98%), sodium nitrite (purity ≥ 98.5%), sodium perchlorate (purity ≥ 99%), and tin(IV) chloride pentahydrate (purity ≥ 98%) were purchased from Acros Organics (Geel, Belgium). Acetic acid (purity ≥ 99.7%), nitric acid (purity > 68%), phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) buffer solution, and sodium carbonate (purity > 99.5%) were obtained from Fisher Chemical (Hampton, NH, USA). Copper (II) chloride (purity ≥ 98%), fluorine (Flu) (purity ≥ 98%), naphthalene (Nap) (purity ≥ 99%), and zinc chloride (purity ≥ 98%) were purchased from Alfa Aesar (Ward Hill, MA, USA). Potassium acetate (purity ≥ 99%) and tetrachloroauric acid (HAuCl₄) (purity ≥ 99.99%) were purchased from Sigma–Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). Sodium citrate (purity ≥ 99%) was obtained from Macron Fine Chemicals (Center Valley, PA, USA). All chemicals used were of analytical grade and were used without undergoing additional purification.

Iron (II) chloride tetrahydrate (FeCl₂·4H₂O, 98%) and nickel (II) chloride hexahydrate (NiCl₂·6H₂O, 98%) from Alfa Aesar, cobalt (II) chloride hexahydrate (CoCl₂·6H₂O, 98%) and ethanol (EtOH, 99%) from Sigma Aldrich, hydrazine monohydrate (N₂H₄·H₂O, 80% solution in water) from Merck, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) pellets from Schedelco and purified water (Type II⁺, Elga) were used as received. Sodium hydroxide pellets were dissolved in purified water to form a 4 M solution.
In a typical experiment for the synthesis of Fe–Co–Ni powder, the appropriate amounts of FeCl₂·4H₂O, CoCl₂·6H₂O and NiCl₂·6H₂O for a given ternary alloy composition were weighed, placed in a flask and stirred vigorously until the metal chlorides dissolved in the solvent (consisting of EtOH and purified water in the ratio 3:1). A 4 M NaOH solution was then added, followed by hydrazine monohydrate. The molar ratio of metal chlorides to NaOH to hydrazine monohydrate was approximately 1:2.5:16. The flask was then sealed, with a needle inserted to allow the evolved gases to vent, and the temperature was maintained at ~ 60 °C for 1 h. The black particles which formed were washed a few times with ethanol to remove the by-products. A permanent magnet was used to collect the black particles, which were then placed in a vacuum oven to form dry powders. The conversion yield to powders from each synthesis was more than 90%.

All chemicals were used as received without any further purification. Copper(II) nitrate hydrate, silver nitrate, copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate, silver sulfate, potassium hydroxide (>85%), formaldehyde solution (37 wt% in H₂O), paraformaldehyde, formic acid (>99%), methanol (>99.9%), tert-butanol (anhydrous), hydrochloric acid (ACS reagent, 37%), sodium citrate were purchased from Sigma Aldrich. Ammonium chloride and nickel(II) chloride hexahydrate were purchased from Alfa Aesar. Copper foam and nickel foam with a purity >99.99% were purchased from MTI. Deionized water (18 MΩ cm) from a Barnstead E-Pure system was used in all experiments.

Apricots were purchased from local market. Cadmium(ii) chloride anhydrous, mercury(ii) chloride, potassium dichromate were purchased from spectrochem ltd. Nickel(ii) chloride hexahydrate, copper(ii) chloride dihydrate were purchased from Fischer scientific. Iron(iii) chloride, barium(ii) nitrate, lead(ii) acetate trihydrate, magnesium(ii) sulphate heptahydrate, Chromium(iii) oxide, Cobalt(iii) chloride and citric acid were purchased from Qualigens. Iron(ii) chloride tetrahydrate was purchased from Thomas baker, zinc(ii) chloride and sodium hydroxide pellets from Merck chemicals, manganese sulphate monohydrate from SD fine chemical ltd., arsenic(iii) oxide from Alfa aesar. Thioacetamide was procured from lobachem ltd. Sodium phosphate dibasic heptahydrate and sodium phosphate monobasic monohydrate were purchased from Loba chemicals. Deionized water was used throughout the experiments.