Microalgae biodiesel is considered one of the most promising renewable fuels. However, the high cost of the downstream process is a major barrier to large-scale microalgal lipid production. In this study, a novel approach based on nickel oxide nanoparticles (NiO NPs) was developed and its effectiveness for simultaneous harvesting and cell disruption in microalgal lipid production was determined. NiO NPs exhibited a microalgal harvesting efficiency of 98.75% in 1 min at pH 7. Moreover, after treating with NiO NPs for 96 h, the lipid extraction efficiency of microalgae (with 80% water content) reached 91.08% and was 208.37% compared to that without NiO treatment. This approach is simple and does not necessitate drying; furthermore, no equipment with high energy consumption was required. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.