Surfactant-assisted synthesis of NiCo2O4/NiO nanocomposite by facile atmospheric pressure microplasma electrochemical process with photocatalytic applications

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics Vol. 32; no. 13; pp. 17865 - 17875
• Main Authors: Shafique, M., Iqbal, Tariq, Mahmood, Hasan, Khan, M. A., Naeem, Muhammad, Ahmed, Ishaq, Ahmad, Pervaiz
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.07.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Atmospheric pressure; Catalytic activity; Cationic dyes; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Crystal defects; Crystallites; Decoloring; Dyes; Emission analysis; Materials Science; Microplasmas; Morphology; Nanocomposites; Nanorods; Nanostructure; Nanowires; Nickel compounds; Nickel oxides; Optical and Electronic Materials; Photocatalysis; Photoluminescence; Rhodamine; Surfactants; Synthesis
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-021-06322-6

NiCo 2 O 4 /NiO nanocomposites were synthesized via atmospheric pressure microplasma electrochemical method. The influence of surfactants on the morphology and properties of as-synthesized nanostructures was studied. Nanorods, nanowires and nanoflowers like morphologies were obtained from SEM analysis. X-ray diffraction analysis was used to study the structural properties of NiCo 2 O 4 /NiO nanostructures and the crystallite size was found to be dependent on surfactants used. Photoluminescence (PL) study disclosed the band edge emission for NiCo 2 O 4 /NiO nanostructures with extra emission in visible region due to the presence of defects such as vacancy and interstitial. The functional characteristics of as-prepared nanostructures were carried out by Raman and FTIR spectroscopy. Moreover, the photocatalytic activity of these nanostructures in the presence of sun light has been investigated using Rhodamine B (RhB) dye solution. It is found that 83.66% decolorization was obtained after 120 min of irradiation for this cationic dye, which showed that both the visible light and photocatalyst are important for effective decolorization of RhB dye.