Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Nickel oxide

jamit - 7-4-2016 at 06:19

Recently I was able to purchase a large quantity of nickel oxide. Now I know there are two possible nickel oxide. Nickel II Oxide, NiO and nickel III oxide, Ni2O3. The former is suppose to be green and the latter black. I have the black nickel oxide.

My problem is this: I have tried to make nickel salt starting from nickel III oxide but it won't dissolve very well in any of the mineral acids - hcl, hno3 and h2so4.

I read on Google that nickel III oxide is calcined? therefore it won't dissolve in acids? Is there a way around this problem? How does heating it at high temp calcine the nickel oxide and why won't it dissolve in acid? I tried heating it and it does dissolve somewhat but not much. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

[Edited on 7-4-2016 by jamit]

blogfast25 - 7-4-2016 at 09:38

It's quite common for metal oxides to become very resistant to acids on prolonged calcination.

Ni(+3) is quite a powerful oxidiser, so if you react it with something that is easily oxidised you might get some reaction going.

A mixture of dilute acid and H2O2 might work because in acid conditions peroxide is easily oxidised:

H2O2 ===> H2O +1/2 O2

No guarantee but worth a try, IMHO...

Or try fusing with an excess of anhydrous NaHSO4.

[Edited on 7-4-2016 by blogfast25]

jamit - 7-4-2016 at 12:49

Thanks blogfast25. I'll try the acid and hydrogen peroxide first before trying the fusing of bisulfate. I'll give an update in a day or two.