Modern electronic devices, such as smartphones and electric vehicles, require multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs), which comprise highly pure Cu terminations and Ni electrodes.

In this study, we investigated the effect of the sulfur content in the NiCl 2 precursor on the shape of nickel nanoparticles (Ni-NPs) prepared by chemical vapor synthesis. We obtained spherical Ni-NPs when using anhydrous NiCl 2 mixed with NiSO 4 or Na 2 SO 4 with a molar ratio of 0.002 as precursors without changing any other process parameters whereas faceted Ni-NPs when using only anhydrous NiCl 2 as a precursor. First-principles calculations supported experimental results, which showed that NiSO 4 -mixed NiCl 2 and Na 2 SO 4 -mixed NiCl 2 precursors favored the growth of spherical NPs.