NAHLA A. TAHA, ASMAA M. ABD EL-AZIZ1 AND AZZA EL-MAGHRABY
Abstract
Rice husks (RH), removed as waste through rice processing in mills, are normally burned in the fields, in open air, causing serious environmental and health problems. The chemical composition of rice husk is found to vary from one sample to another due to the differences in the type of paddy, crop year, climate and geographical conditions. A solgel route for preparing nickel-rice husk Silica nano particles from rice husk was used, as a new trend for the disposal of rice husks in a beneficial use. At optimal conditions, amorphous nickel-rice husk silica particles were synthesised through the addition of NiCl2.6H2O into sodium silicate derived from rice husk. SEM, TGA, XRD and FTIR techniques were used to characterise the nickel-rice husk silica powder. The nickel was found to be isomorphously substituted in the silica matrix. A good dispersion of nickel nanoparticles were evidenced from X-ray diffraction. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed the formation of well-dispersed nickel nanoparticles.