Enhanced performance of cuoatnio rgo Nanocomposites a study on their physical Chemical and optical properties for Multifaceted applications

Abstract

In this context, nanomaterials have become pivotal in diverse newlineapplications. For example, photodiodes are crucial for energy harvesting newlinein AC-to-DC conversion, electrochemical supercapacitors are essential newlinefor energy storage and photocatalytic dye degradation plays a significant newlinerole in environmental remediation. Metal oxides are preferred for these newlineapplications due to their superior photoresponse, redox stability, efficient newlinecharge separation, low cost and ease of synthesis. Among them, CuO is newlinea p-type semiconductor with a monoclinic phase, shows excellent newlineelectrical and optical properties with a bandgap of 1.2 2.85 eV. Similarly, newlineNiO, another p-type semiconductor with a cubic structure, exhibits newlineantiferromagnetic behavior in bulk, with magnetic and electrical newlineproperties that vary based on particle size. However, using single metal newlineoxides in these technologies poses challenges such as poor connectivity, newlinehigh sheet resistance, limited specific capacitance and reduced cyclic newlinestability due to corrosion. To address these limitations, binary newlinenanocomposites were developed, yet some issues persisted. newlineRecent research has explored the incorporation of reduced graphene newlineoxide (rGO) into binary metal oxide matrices, which has shown promising newlineimprovements. The addition of rGO reduces sheet resistance, enhances newlineelectrical conductivity, increases surface area and improves cycling newlinestability while preventing corrosion. Despite residual defects limiting its newlineuse in advanced applications, rGO, derived from graphene oxide, newlinesignificantly enhances the performance of metal oxides in catalysis and newlineenergy storage. In this work, we synthesized CuO, NiO, rGO, CuOatNiO, and newlineCuOatNiO/rGO in three varying ratios (90:10, 75:25, and 50:50). These newlinematerials were characterized using techniques such as XRD, BET, SEM, newlineTEM, EDX, XPS, UV-Vis and PL to understand their structural and newlinemorphological features, surface areas, particle sizes, elemental newlinecompositions, chemical states, absorbance properties, and electron-hole recombination. newline