Synthesis and characterization of CuO-NiO-ZnO mixed metal oxide nanocomposite

Abstract The synthesis, characterization and application of mixed oxides has received increasing interest because of the many opportunities in tuning their properties for better functional performance compared to the basic metal oxides. CuO-NiO-ZnO mixed oxide nanocomposite was prepared by a simple co-precipitation method and its physical properties investigated. XRD studies showed distinct monoclinic CuO, cubic NiO and hexagonal wurzite ZnO phases with NiO oxide having the highest volume fraction. The particle sizes as determined by TEM varied between 15 and 40 nm while electron diffraction showed that the nanocomposite was polycrystalline. An EDX map of a selected area revealed that the elemental composition of the constituent oxides varied across the studied area. The existence of three phases indicates the presence of CuO/NiO/ZnO double heterojunctions, which impacts strongly on the overall properties of the nanocomposite.