Solution Combustion Synthesis of Ni/NiO/ZnO Nanocomposites for Photodegradation of Methylene Blue Under Ultraviolet Irradiation

In this work, Ni/NiO/ZnO nanocomposites were synthesized by the one-pot solution combustion synthesis method. Phase evolution investigated by the x-ray diffraction method showed that the ZnO and NiO contents can be tuned by addition of a zinc precursor. The microstructure characterized by electron microscopy exhibited granular morphology with a particle size of 1.1 mu m decreasing to 90 nm as a function of the amounts of ZnO and NiO phases. Specific surface area determined by N-2 adsorption-desorption isotherms increased from 1.4 m(2)/g to 25.6 m(2)/g with the increase of oxide phases. However, the saturation magnetization decreased from 51.3 emu/g to 25.9 emu/g in the presence of antiferromagnetic NiO and nonmagnetic ZnO phases. Photodegradation of methylene blue under ultraviolet light exhibited the maximum efficiency in the sample containing 16.25 wt.% of ZnO and 21.25 wt.% of NiO, and may be due to the synergic effect between ZnO and NiO.