S. Ramesh et al.rChemical Physics Letters 287 (1998) 461–467
467
image be recorded without the problems of tip-in-
duced particle movements, which was not possible in
the case of the amorphous nickel sample.
from a silicate type impurity phase formed in a solid
state reaction during the crystallization process.
The stronger adhesion of hard nanocrystalline
nickel particles to the silica surface can be under-
stood in terms of a silicate type impurity phase
formed in the interface. Our earlier investigation w11x
Acknowledgements
AG thanks the Ministry of Science and Technol-
ogy for supporting this research through the grant for
infrastructure.
on the nature of the interaction between elemental
nickel and silica nanoparticles by IR spectroscopy
dq
suggested the formation of Si–O–Ni type species
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