were synthesized following the procedure reported by Carenco et al.16 (link) In a 25 mL flask, 1 equiv of nickel acetylacetonate
[Ni(acac)2, 95%, purchased by Sigma-Aldrich] and 10 equiv
of OLAM were mixed and degassed in a standard Schlenk line under vacuum
for 2 h at 100 °C. Afterward, the atmosphere was switched to
argon and the solution was heated up to 220 °C. The reaction
time was 2 h. Then, the solution was cooled down to room temperature.
Ni0 NCs were washed three times with a mixture of hexane
(99%, purchased from Sigma-Aldrich) and ethanol (99.9%, purchased
from Carlo Erba Reagents), each rinsing followed by centrifugation
(4500 rpm, 10 min) and discarding of the supernatant. The Ni0 NCs were dispersed in hexane for further characterizations/experiments.