Multi metal oxide CdO-Al2O3-NiO nanocomposite-synthesis, photocatalytic and magnetic properties

A multi metal oxide nanocomposite involving CdO, Al2O3 and NiO was synthesized by precipitation method. The x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analyses confirmed the formation of heterostructured CdO-Al2O3-NiO composite. Diffraction peaks related to cubic CdO, monoclinic Al2O3 and cubic NiO were observed in the XRD pattern of the composite. SEM images confirmed the presence of spherical shaped grains for CdO, nanorods for Al2O3 and nanoneedles for NiO. Improved photocatalytic activity was observed for the composite better than the binary oxide entities due to the efficient separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs caused by their vectorial transfer among CdO, Al2O3 and NiO. The results obtained confirmed that CdO-Al2O3-NiO could be a new promising visible light driven photocatalyst with outstanding performance. Ferrimagnetic orderings was observed for the composite which could be due to intrinsic exchange interaction of magnetic moments mediated by the defects present.