Published July 24, 2024
0 views Journal article

PREPARATION OF HIGH QUALITY NANOCOMPOSITES OF CuO/TiO2 WITH Ar+ IONS IRRADIATION WITH ENHANCED PHOTOELECTRONIC PROPERTIES

Creators

  • 1. Department of Physics, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan
  • 2. Centre for Nanosciences, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan
  • 3. UNESCO-UNISA Africa Chair in Nanosciences/Nanotechnology, College of Graduate Studies, University of South Africa, Muckleneuk Ridge, P. O. Box 392, Pretoria, South Africa
  • 4. Nanosciences African Network (NANOAFNET), iThemba LABS, National Research Foundation, Old Faure Road, P. O. Box, 722, Somerset West 7129, South Africa
  • 5. NPU-NCP Joint International Research Center on Advanced Nanomaterials and Defects Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, P. R. China
  • 6. Northwestern Polytechnical University
  • 7. Department of Physics and Astronomy College of Science, King Saud University, P. O. Box 2455, 11451 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • 8. King Saud University
  • 9. Department of Physics, Bahuaddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan
  • 10. Institute of Physics, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, 63100, Bahawalpur, Pakistan
  • 11. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa
  • 12. Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia
  • 13. Government Sadiq College Women University Bahawalpur, Pakistan

Description

In this research work, nanocomposites of CuO/TiO2 were initially fabricated using drop casting method. Later on, these nanocomposites were irradiated for the first time by a beam of Argon ions (Ar[Formula: see text] by keeping the fluence rates of [Formula: see text] ions cm[Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] ions cm[Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] ions cm[Formula: see text], respectively. In order to observe structural and optical properties of un-irradiated and irradiated nanocomposites, Raman Spectroscopy, Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Photoluminescence (PL) and Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) analysis were performed. From Raman analysis, vibration modes confirmed the presence of different phases of TiO2 and CuO. EDX analysis clearly demonstrates the presence of Cu, Ti, and O peaks. SEM images depict agglomerated spherical nanoparticles having diameters in the range of 40–94[Formula: see text]nm. From TEM analysis, mean diameter of 56.1[Formula: see text]nm is observed for unirradiated and 33.7[Formula: see text]nm for Ar[Formula: see text] irradiated CuO/TiO2 nanoparticles in nanocomposite for fluence rates of [Formula: see text] ions cm[Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] ions cm[Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] ions cm[Formula: see text]. HR-TEM and SAED images represent the polycrystalline nature of these nanocomposites. Among the three peaks of PL spectra in UV–Visible region, first two peaks were observed at 356[Formula: see text]nm, and 419[Formula: see text]nm but the third peak is little shifted from 488[Formula: see text]nm with the increase in fluence rate. Values of band gap are reduced from 3.29[Formula: see text]eV to 3.17[Formula: see text]eV as the fluence rate is increased, as calculated from results of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy.
Enabled by The Lens