Multi metal oxide NiO-Fe2O3-CdO nanocomposite-synthesis, photocatalytic and antibacterial properties

Binary NiO-Fe2O3, NiO-CdO nanocomposites, and ternary NiO-Fe2O3-CdO nanocomposite are synthesized using facile co-precipitation method, and their photocatalytic and antibacterial properties are studied. The as-obtained products are characterized using different analytical techniques. The microstructural parameters were calculated using X-ray diffraction data. UV-vis spectra technique was used to calculate the bandgap and listed 3.1, 2.7, and 2.5 eV for NiO-Fe2O3, NiO-CdO, and NiO-Fe2O3-CdO nanocomposite, respectively. The photocatalytic activity of as-obtained products was tested under visible light against methylene blue (MB) dye. The NiO-Fe2O3-CdO nanocomposite has shown higher degradation efficiency as compared to binary nanocomposites and revealed improve electron-hole separation efficiency. The photocatalytic performance of NiO-Fe2O3-CdO nanocomposite was also tested for other synthetic dyes such as rhodamine-B (RhB), methyl orange (MO), and cresol red (CR). The antibacterial performance of grown products was tested against E. coli bacteria. The ternary NiO-Fe2O3-CdO nanocomposite has shown higher antibacterial activity than binary NiO-Fe2O3 and NiO-CdO nanocomposites.