Structural and Optical Properties of Pure NiO Nanoparticles and NiO-Mn2O3, NiO-CdO, NiO-Pb2O3, NiO-ZnO Nanocomposites

Abstract: Pure nickel oxide (NiO) nanoparticles and NiO-Mn2O3, NiO-CdO, NiO-Pb2O3, NiO –ZnO nanocomposites were synthesized by co-precipitation method. The PXRD studies revealed that NiO, Mn2O3 and CdO possessed cubic structure, Pb2O3 possessed monoclinic structure, ZnO possessed hexagonal structure and confirmed the presence of polycrystallinity nature of NiO and Mn2O3, CdO, Pb2O3, ZnO in the nanocomposites. The average grain size of NiO nanoparticles was found to be 30.10 nm using Debye Scherer’s formula. The FESEM images of NiO nanoparticles and their nanocomposites revealed spherical shaped structure and NiO-Pb2O3 revealed needle shaped rod-like structure. EDAX analysis confirmed the composition of NiO nanoparticles and their nanocomposites. Raman spectra exhibited characteristic peaks of pure NiO and that of NiO- Mn2O3, NiO-CdO, NiO- Pb2O3, NiO-ZnO in the synthesized nanocomposites. In the PL spectra, blue and green emission was observed in the samples. UV-vis spectra revealed the absorption peaks of NiO nanoparticles and their nanocomposites. Thus, the synthesized NiO- Mn2O3, NiO-CdO, NiO - Pb2O3 and NiO-ZnO nanocomposites can be a suitable material for electrocatalysis applications. Keywords: Nickel oxide nanocomposites, Structure, Morphology, Absorption, Luminescence.