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Sol–gel processed (ZnxNi1−x)O binary composite characterized for gas sensing and photocatalytic applications

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Abstract

Metal oxides have received consideration in recent times due to their outstanding properties and diverse applications with their composites exhibiting unique electrical and magnetic features, photocatalytic degradation, and gas sensing properties. This research was carried out to investigate the properties of sol–gel synthesized (ZnxNi1−x)O binary composites since there has been no published paper yet on this. The zinc oxide, ZnO and nickel oxide, NiO samples were mixed at varied volume ratios of (0.8:0.2), (0.5:0.5), and (0.2:0.8) using Zinc nitrate hexahydrate (Zn(NO3)2·6H2O) and Nickel (II) acetate tetrahydrate (Ni(CH3CO2)2·4H2O) as their respective precursors. A hexagonal crystal structure of the binary composite was gotten at an average crystallite size of 5.88 nm. Uniformly distributed nanolumps over the surface were observed in the morphology due to even dispersion in the Zn–Ni matrix. TEM images showed compact nanoclusters while the energy band gap values gotten were 3.2, 3.3, and 3.6 eV were obtained for the ZnO0.8NiO0.2, ZnO0.5NiO0.5, and ZnO0.2NiO0.8 composites, respectively. The functional groups present in the composites were shown in the FTIR graph with high PL counts obtained in the visible spectrum. Variation in the volume ratio of the composites gave Raman shifts at high intensity. Results obtained from the elemental analysis confirmed the presence of as-deposited elements and ascertained that the composites were synthesized in the right proportion. The composites were found to be highly sensitive most especially at high temperatures to CO2, H2S, and Cl2 at 100 ppm and 10 V. The photocatalytic efficiency obtained was above 50% at 10 ppm.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research, Vice Presidency for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia [GrantA478]. The authors are also thankful to DST, New Delhi for Research Infrastructure under DST-FIST.

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The authors declare that no funds, grants or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, SNJBs KKHA Arts, SMGL Commerce and SPHJ Science College, Chandwad, 423101, India

    Matthew D. Femi, Manoj A. More, Ganesh E. Patil, Sarika D. Shinde, Huda I. Ahmed, Yogesh B. Aher & Laxmi D. Sonawane

  2. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nsukka, 410001, Nigeria

    Matthew D. Femi, Agnes C. Nkele, B. A. Ezekoye, A. B. C. Ekwealor & Fabian I. Ezema

  3. Department of Physics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    Agnes C. Nkele

  4. Department of Physics, College of Science, King Faisal University, P.O. Box 400, 31982, Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia

    Adil Alshoaibi

  5. Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Power and Energy Development (ACE-SPED), University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

    Gotan H. Jain & Fabian I. Ezema

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  1. Matthew D. Femi
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Contributions

D. F. Matthew, A. C. Nkele G. E. Patil: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Validation, Experiments, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing original draft. S. D. Shinde, B. A. Ezekoye: Validation, Data curation. G. H. Jain, A. B. C. Ekwealor, I. A. Huda: Experiments, Data curation. Adil Alshoaibi, A. M. Manoj: Conceptualization, Supervision. B. A.Yogesh, ABC Ekwealor: Validation, Formal analysis. G. H. Jain, ABC Ekwealor & Fabian I. Ezema: Validation, Formal analysis. G. H. Jain, Fabian I. Ezema: Conceptualization, Supervision, Validation, Formal analysis.

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Correspondence to Matthew D. Femi or Agnes C. Nkele.

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Femi, M.D., More, M.A., Nkele, A.C. et al. Sol–gel processed (ZnxNi1−x)O binary composite characterized for gas sensing and photocatalytic applications. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 35, 1300 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-024-12936-3

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