Three different kinds of morphologies including spherical, chainlike and wirelike cobalt nanopowders, have been synthesized by chemical reduction of coblat chloride solution with hydrazine hydrate in basic solution. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). It was revealed that the morphologies of the nanopowders depend on the concentration of Co2+ and the way of adding reducing agent (hydrazine hydrate). These two features affected the nucleation sites and the number of nucleuses. When the concentration of Co2+ was low, nucleuses formed in the soft template, while the reducing of the reducing agent added drop wise, a little number of nucleuses was formed. Based on that, a mechanism of formation, as a basis of gram-scale syntheses, was proposed.
