Results in Physics 12 (2019) 562–570

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Results in Physics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rinp

The effect of CdO content on the crystal structure, surface morphology, T

optical properties and photocatalytic efficiency of p-NiO/n-CdO
nanocomposite
⁎
Essam F. Abo Zeida, , Ibrahem A. Ibrahemb, Atif Mossad Alic, Walied A.A. Mohamedd
a
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut 71516, Egypt
b
Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Al Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo 11884, Egypt
c
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
d
Inorganic Chemistry Department, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Pure NiO nanoparticles and NiO-CdO nanocomposite were prepared with different content of CdO by simple
Nanocomposite chemical precipitation method at 800 °C for 3 h. Crystal structure, surface morphology, elemental composition
XRD and function groups present in the prepared samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX, Raman and FTIR
Raman analysis analysis, respectively. From XRD, preparation of pure NiO and formation of nanocomposite samples confirmed
Optical properties
by the presence of characteristic diffraction peaks of cubic phase structure of NiO and CdO. The particle size
Photocatalytic efficiency
increases from 26 to 34 nm with the increase of CdO content in the prepared samples. SEM images show the
spherical shape of NiO and plate like shape of nanocomposite samples. The EDX analysis revealed that the
absence of any impurity peaks indicates the high quality of prepared samples. Raman and FTIR spectra show the
fundamental peaks of NiO and CdO in the samples. The best photodegradation efficiency of methyl orange dye
i.e. 60% was achieved as a result of the decrease in the energy band gap from 3.42 to 2.92 eV at the optimum
content of CdO (0.12 wt%).

Introduction
Researches nowadays have been focused on the transition metal
oxide nanoparticles in single or composite form due to their distin-
guishable optical, electrical, magnetic and catalytic properties [1–9].
These properties make them more applicable in several fields such as
photonics, electronics, biosensor, biomedical, biological and treatment
of environmental hazards [10–13]. The textile industries use coloured
dyes such as methylene blue, acid red 14, remazol red RR, reactive blue
19, methyl orange etc. Usage of these coloured dyes becomes a major
source of environmental contamination. This leads to surface and
ground water contamination [14–23]. A nanoparticle nickel oxide
(NiO) as a p-type semiconductor used in catalysis process, energy sto-
rage, solar energy conversion, chemical, biological sensing and high-
temperature superconductivity [24–28]. NiO was widely used as a
photocatalyst in the photodegradation process of some water pollu-
tants, due to its low cost, environmental stability, efficiency and
environment friendly nature [29–32]. One of the constraints facing the
use of nickel oxide as a phtocatalyst is the decreasing time of re-
combination process between the electron and hole pairs because of its
widely band gap (3.6–4.0 eV) [33]. It was reported that, a formation of
the nanocomposite materials is the remarkable method to improve the
photocatalytic properties of NiO by decreasing the rate of recombina-
tion process under light irradiation due to the presence of two dissim-
ilar energy-level systems which can play a significant role in attaining
charge separation [11,34–37]. Due to high carrier concentration, high
electrical conductivity, greater chemical stability, wide spread avail-
ability, high transparency in the visible range of the electromagnetic
spectrum and less cost material of n-type semiconductor cadmium
oxide (CdO), the decent combination between NiO and CdO would be a
prominent composite for enhance the photocatalytic activity [38]. To
study the role of CdO amount on the crystal structure, surface mor-
phology, optical properties and photocatalytic efficiency of p-NiO/n-
CdO nanocomposite, four nanocomposite samples were prepared by

Abbreviations: COD, Chemical oxygen demand ; EDX, Energy – dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy; Eg, Energy gap; FTIR, Fourier transform infrared; MO, Methyl
orange; NCs, nanocomposites; NPs, Nanoparticles; SEM, Scanning electron microscope; UV–Visible, Ultraviolet–Visible; VB, Valence band; Xe-Lamp, Xenone Lamp;
XRD, X-Ray Diffraction
⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: esabozaid@yahoo.com, eabozaid@aun.edu.eg (E.F.A. Zeid).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rinp.2018.12.009
Received 30 September 2018; Received in revised form 21 November 2018; Accepted 2 December 2018
Available online 06 December 2018
2211-3797/ © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/).
E.F.A. Zeid et al.
chemical precipitation method in this work. The effect of CdO content
was investigated using different analysis techniques. The photo-
chemical degradation of methyl orange dye was used to evaluate the
catalytic efficiency of the samples.
Methods
Materials
Nickel nitrate Ni (NO3)2·6H2O, Cadmium nitrate Cd (NO3)2.4H2,
Potassium hydroxide KOH and methanol absolute were purchased from
Sigma-Aldrich and used as received. All the aqueous solutions were
prepared using distilled water.
Preparation of catalysts
Preparation of pure NiO NPS
0.5 mol of nickel nitrate Ni (NO3)2·6H2O was dissolved in 100 ml of
double distilled water with stirring for 30 min. A fresh solution from
potassium hydroxide KOH (1.5 mol dissolved in 100 ml of deionized
water) used as a precipitating agent added dropwise to a nickel solution
under continuous stirring for 2 h at 60 °C. The obtained green pre-
cipitate of Ni (OH)2 was filtered and washed by distilled water and
absolute ethanol in several times. The formed sample was dried over-
night at 100 °C in an air oven after that the product was grinding more
times. The calcination process occurred at 800 °C for 3 h using a muffle
furnace to obtain the pure NiO NPS.
Preparation of NiO-CdO NCs
A simple chemical precipitation method has been used for the for-
mation of nanocomposite samples. For the preparation of the NC1
sample, 0.08 M of Cadmium Nitrate tetrahydrate Cd(NO3)2·4H2O dis-
solved in 100 ml of deionized water was added to the Nickel Nitrate
hexahydrate solution under stirring. The precipitating agent of po-
tassium hydroxide slowly added to the mixture solution at 60 °C with
stirring for 2 h. The obtained precipitate was filtered and washed with
distilled water and absolute ethanol in several times to remove any
impurities. The formed sample was dried overnight at 100 °C in an air
oven after that the product was grinding more times. The calcination
process occurred at 800 °C for 3 h using a muffle furnace. The same
procedures were followed to prepare NC2, NC3 and NC4 samples using
0.1 M, 0.12 M and 0.14 M of Cadmium nitrate.
Physical characterization and measurements
The XRD measurements were performed on a Shimadzu X-600,
Japan (Cu Kα, λ = 0.15406 nm). The morphology of the samples was
observed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM-JSM 6360 LA,
Japan) equipped with an EDS. The FT-IR spectra of the nanocomposites
were recorded with a Thermo Scientific Nicolet iS50 FT-IR spectrometer
in the range of 400–4000 cm−1. Raman scattering spectra were regis-
tered at room temperature by Thermo Scientific, DXR FT-RAMAN
coupled with a microscope. The Ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) absorption
spectra were recorded with UV–Vis.-NIR spectrophotometer (model
UV-3600).
Estimation of photocatalytic efficiency
The photocatalytic estimation of pure NiO and NiO-CdO nano-
composite with different amounts of CdO was investigated for the de-
struction of methyl orange dye (MO) by using photoreactor 50-W Xe-
lamp (Eng. Co., Ltd., Egypt). The experimental set up was employed by
adding 100 mg from the sample to 100 ml of MO (2 × 10−5 M). Before
irradiation, the suspension solution was stirred for 60 min in dark to
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Results in Physics 12 (2019) 562–570
achieve an adsorption-desorption equilibrium, then exposed to the light
source. The concentration of MO dye after photodegradation was ana-
lyzed using a UV–Vis spectrophotometer (Shemadzu) by measuring the
change in absorbance values at interval times for 2 h at a maximum
wavelength of the dye (464 nm). All photodegradation processes were
evaluated at room temperature. Also, chemical oxygen demand (COD)
measurements were measured for all investigated samples which have
different Ni-Cd catalyst ratio by using COD meter and multiparameter
photometer HI 83099. The COD percentages for removal of MO were
calculated by this equation:
COD0 − CODt ⎞
COD % = ⎛ ⎜ × 100
⎟
⎝ COD0 ⎠ (1)
where CODo and CODt are the values of the chemical oxygen demand for
MO dye before and at interval times of irradiation.
Results and discussion
Structural investigations
The structural properties of pure NiO and NiO-CdO nanocomposite
were obtained by X-ray powder diffraction Fig. 1. The recorded dif-
fraction peaks of the cubic crystal structure of pure NiO NPs are mat-
ched well with the standard JCPDS Card No: 04-0835 [39] at 2θ values
37.22°, 43.33°, 63.06°, 75.37° and 79.38° indexed to the (1 1 1), (2 0 0),
(2 2 0), (3 1 1) and (2 2 2) planes in Fig. 1. The analysis of XRD patterns
of prepared nanocomposite provides the presence of the characteristic
diffraction peaks of both NiO and CdO cubic crystal structure with 2θ
values at 33.08°, 38.31°, 55.42°, 66.07° and 69.38° indexed to the
(1 1 1), (2 0 0), (2 2 0), (3 1 1) and (2 2 2) planes which matched well
with JCPDS Card No: 05–0640 [40]. It was tentatively observed that,
there is no peak shift in the main characteristic peaks of NiO, only the
intensity of the preferred diffraction peak (2 0 0) decreased in the
presence of CdO during the nanocomposite. The presence of diffraction
peaks of CdO and NiO confirm the formation of NiO-CdO nano-
composite. The complete absence of new peaks attributed to there is no
interaction between two transition metal oxides. The crystal properties
of NiO cubic phase in the prepared samples was estimated at 2θ = 43°
with diffraction line (2 0 0).
Debye-Scherer’s equation was used to estimate the crystallite size as
follows:
0.9λ
D=
βcosθ (2)
Fig. 1. XRD patterns of pure NiO and NiO-CdO nanocomposites.
E.F.A. Zeid et al. Results in Physics 12 (2019) 562–570

Fig. 2. W–H plots obtained for: (a) NC0 (b) NC1 and (c) NC4 samples.

where λ is the wavelength of radiation used in Cu Kα (0.15406 nm), β is

the full-width at half-maximum (in rad) of the peak, and θ is the angle
at the position of the maximum peak (in rad). The microstrain was
calculated by the Williamson-Hall method [41]:
βcosθ = (0.9λ / D) + (4εsinθ) (3)

The slope value of the straight line from the relation between βcosθ
versus 4sinθ , Fig. 2, indicates the microstrain behavior of NiO phase in
the studied samples. The crystallographic properties were highly af-
fected by the presence of dislocation density. The crystallite size related
to the dislocation density by the relation:
δ = 1/ D 2 (4)

The obtained values of crystallite size, microstrain, dislocation

density and energy band gap obtained in Table 1. Table 1 indicates that
the particle size of NiO increases with the increase of CdO amounts. The
agglomeration process between NiO and CdO in the nanocomposite
results in an increase of the grain size due to the difference between the
atomic radii of Cd (0.097 nm) and Ni (0.074 nm). Fig. 3 shows the Fig.3. crystallite size versus dislocation density (δ) and microstrain (ε) for the
particle size dependence on dislocation density and microstrain. The NiO and NiO-CdO NCs samples.
microstrain values increase with CdO content, due to the high effect of
grain size on the comprehensive stress of the nanocomposite. The dislocation lines number per unit area inside the nanocomposite de-
creases with the increase of particle size Fig. 3.
Table 1
The obtained values of crystallite size, microstrain, dislocation density and
energy band gap.
Surface morphology and EDX analysis

Sample Crystallite size Microstrain (ε) Dislocation density Energy The surface morphology of the prepared samples investigated by
D (nm) ×10-4 (δ) ×104 (lines/ band gap
nm2) Eg(ev)
SEM demonstrated in Fig. 4(a–c). The morphology structure of pure
NiO (NC0) identified spherical nanoparticles composed of irregularly
NC0 26.94 3.70 13.78 3.42 shaped grains agglomerated with each other Fig. 4a. The micrographs
NC1 29.22 3.85 11.71 3.05 of the nanocomposite samples with lower and higher content of CdO
NC2 29.70 3.37 11.34 2.95
(NC1 and NC4) indicate well-defined grains with increased size Fig. 4b
NC3 33.60 6.41 8.86 2.92
NC4 33.95 9.89 8.68 2.84 and c. A plate-like shape appeared in the NC1 and NC4 samples at-
tributed to the presence of CdO confirm the formation of a

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E.F.A. Zeid et al. Results in Physics 12 (2019) 562–570

Fig. 4. SEM images of (a) NC0 (b) NC1 and (c) NC4 samples.

Fig. 5. EDX spectra of (a) NC0, (b) NC1 and (c) NC4 samples.

nanocomposite. Intensively these plates like shape and some of the

nanoparticles are accumulated at the surface. As the number of nano-
particle increases, the agglomeration also increases. Using EDX spectra,
the elemental composition of the nano-powdered samples evaluated as
shown in Fig. 5a–c. Only presences of Ni and O in the NC0 sample
confirm the formation of NiO nanoparticles without any impurities
Fig. 5a.
The formation of nanocomposite confirmed by the only appearance
of characteristic peaks of Ni, Cd and O in the NC1 and NC4 EDX spectra
Fig. 5b and c. The quantitative evaluations of the atomic percent of the
samples are indicated in the mapping images of Fig. 5. For nano-
composite samples the increase in crystallite size as observed in XRD
analysis due to the presence of cadmium atoms. The increase of Cd
percent during the nanocomposite samples from 9.09% to 13.71% in
NC1 to NC4 respectively as indicated in EDX spectra consistence with
that of XRD results.

FTIR analysis

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectral (FTIR) analysis used to de-
termine the functional group present in the pure NiO (NC0) and na-
nocomposite samples (NC1, NC2, NC3, and NC4) as shown in Fig. 6. For
the prepared samples the peaks obviously appeared at
3133–3138 cm−1, 1350–1450 cm−1, 1050–1060 cm−1, 820–880 cm−1,
and 700–705 cm−1 are attributed to stretching vibration of OH group
which is contributed by water content, asymmetric stretching of C]O,
C–O stretching vibration of adsorbed CO2, C–H stretching and N–H
bending mode respectively. Stretching vibrations of Ni-O appeared at
425 cm−1, 555 cm−1 and 670 cm−1.
The main characteristic peak at 770–780 cm−1 appeared only in the
nanocomposite samples (NC1, NC2, NC3, and NC4) associated with Cd-
O bond [42,43]. This peak intensity increases with the increase of CdO
in the nanocomposite. The presence of main characteristic peaks of the
two semiconductor oxides (Ni-O and Cd-O) confirms the nanocomposite
formation.
Fig. 6. FT-IR spectra of (a) NC0, (b) NC1, (c) NC2, (d) NC3 and (e) NC4 sam-
ples.
Raman analysis
Raman spectroscopy is a useful method to investigate the structural
phase and purity of prepared samples. Raman spectrum at room tem-
perature of pure NiO and NiO-CdO nanocomposite within the range of
200–1600 cm−1 was contain several characteristic bands as shown in
Fig. 7. For pure NiO vibrational band at 505 cm−1 can be assigned to
one phonon (1P) first-order transverse optical (TO) mode. The peaks at
715 and 1058 cm−1 can be attributed to (2P) due to the mixing of
(2TO) and longitudinal optical (2LO). Raman analysis of the nano-
composite samples shows the appearance of fundamental two-magnon
peaks (2 M) of NiO which observed at 1441 cm−1. The presence of this
peak reveals that the transformation of NiO from weak ferromagnetic to
ferromagnetic activity. The increase of magnetization with increase of

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Fig. 7. Raman spectroscopy of (a) NC0, (b) NC1, (c) NC2, (d) NC3 and (e) NC4
samples.
the cadmium content was attributed to the surface spin effect and ca-
tion distribution in the nanocomposite samples [44]. Also, the addition
of cadmium by any trace amount might reduce the Ni-O interaction
strength and develop the presence of free Ni+2 which plays a re-
sponsible role in promoting magnetization in the nanocomposite sam-
ples [45]. Influence of CdO content it shows clearly in the decreasing of
the intensity of main characteristic peaks of NiO at (717 and
1058 cm−1) and presence of an effective peak at 960 cm−1 belongs to
two-phonon modes (2P) of two longitudinal optical 2LO of CdO. The
later effect of the CdO appears in the shift of the strongest broad peak of
NiO at 505 cm−1 to lower values.
Optical studies
It is well known that optical absorption properties are related to its
optical energy gap (Eg). For this reason, the Kubelka-Munk (K-M)
function F(R) was plotted using UV–visible diffuse reflectance:
(1 − R)2
F (R) =
2R (5)
where F(R) is the so-called Kubelka-Munk function (the corresponding
of absorption coefficient) and R is the reflectivity. The band gap of the
pure NiO and NiO-CdO nanocomposite was calculated as [46];
A (hν − Eg )n
F (R) =
hν (6)
where A is an arbitrary constant, E = hν is the photon energy and the
value of n depends on the probability of transition (n is either 2 for a
direct band gap or 1/2 for an indirect band gap). The optical energy gap
(Eg) can be determined by the tangent lines of the [F (R) E ]2 against
photon energy as shown in Fig. 8. The band gap values of pure NiO and
NiO-CdO nanocomposites were found to be equal to 3.42 eV, 3.05, 2.95,
2.92 and 2.84 eV, respectively. The band gap value of 3.42 eV obtained
for the pure NiO nano-powders exactly matched with the value re-
ported by Dhanuskodi et al. [47]. Therefore, the band gap is tuning the
volume fractions of the suitable for several applications such as pho-
tovoltaics, photocatalysis, and thermoelectrics. The decreasing of the
band gap value is associated with grain size, shape and structural de-
fects in the pure NiO nanocrystalline. Nanocomposite samples exhibit a
large content of Cd+2 with the formation of localized energy states and
closer to the conduction band which reduces the energy band gap [47].
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Results in Physics 12 (2019) 562–570
Effect of CdO content on the photocatalytic efficiency
The photochemical degradation of methyl orange (MO) as a model
of organic pollutant dyes used to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of
the prepared samples as shown in Fig. 9a and b). In the presence of pure
NiO, littlie changes in the absorbance values of MO with irradiation
time is observed in Fig. 9a, and the value of the photodegradation ef-
ficiency equal (34%) this indicates the lower activity of the sample. For
the nanocomposite compounds, significant decreases in the absorbance
value of the dye were observed and the obtained results of the photo-
degradation efficiency give (45%, 48%, 60%, and 50%) for the (NC1,
NC2, NC3, and NC4) samples respectively. According to results, we can
arrange the prepared compounds in terms of photocatalytic activity as
follows NC3 (0.12 wt) > NC4 (0.14 wt) > NC2 (0.10 wt) > NC1
(0.08 wt) > NC0 (0.00 wt%). Impact of the prepared nanocatalysts on
the absorbance change of MO dye at various time intervals is shown in
Fig. 10a and the relation between Photodegradation rates of the de-
struction of MO dye with different prepared samples is shown in
Fig. 10b. This attitude indicates that the photodegradation efficiency
improved with increasing cadmium oxide amount to about 0.12 wt%.
After that, higher concentrations of CdO addition were found to give
reverse impact on the photocatalytic activity of the prepared samples.
The negative effect can be attributed to aggregation of the catalyst
particles at higher concentrations (0.14 wt%), which caused the de-
crease in the number of active surface sites and the catalyst reduces the
probability of light interaction with the reactants on the surface reac-
tion. This behavior is caused by the so-called shielding effect after ex-
ceeding the optimum amount CdO. i.e. p-NiO/n-CdO 0.12 wt% nano-
composite semiconductor showing optimum results Fig. 9b. In the
presence of CdO the catalytic activity increases due to its action as an
active site for reduction of oxygen molecules by the electrons of the
conduction band and inhibits the super-ability of electrons at conduc-
tion band of NiO which was a cause of low its efficiency. Formation of
heterostructure oxides leads to improve the charge separation process,
reducing band gap energy and increase the time required to elec-
tron–hole pair recombination [48]. This behavior gives a greater
chance to form active oxidizing OH% and %O2– radicals which are the
main species for the degradation of organic dyes. By a comprehensive
vision, the perfect photodegradation process depends on the features of
the catalyst used, and the dynamic light intensity in the system. Smaller
particle size with the high surface area is skilled substrates for ab-
sorption of light which is essential for the improvement of photo-
catalytic performance [49].
The values of the Photodegradation rates (K), COD % and de-
gradation % for Methyl Orange degradation indicate in table 2. COD %
of all samples have the same sequences of the photodegradation rates
which indicates the MO mineralization molecules depends also in the
photocatalytic activity of the NiO-CdO catalyst ratio and observed the
same order according to their photodegradation process.
It is worthy to mention that the obtained high photocatalytic ac-
tivity of the prepared samples for degradation of methyl orange dye
compared to previous work on ZnO as well as other materials such as:
ZnO/CuO [50], WO3/Ag2CrO4 [51], ATT/TiO2 [52], Att/Fe2O3 [52],
Ag2CrO4/SnS2 [53] and ZnO/PANI [54]. For more clarity the compar-
ison between the present work and the previous one is shown in
Table 3.
Proposed mechanism
Fig. 11 shows the proposed photocatalytic mechanism of the p/n
nanocomposite NiO/CdO. Factors affecting the photocatalytic behavior
of the nano prepared samples include the energy band gap value, the
oxidation potential of the positive holes and the separation value of the
negative electrons and positive holes. When the catalyst sample is ex-
posed to the light source, the excited electrons in CdO and positive
holes in NiO move to NiO conduction band and CdO valence band,
E.F.A. Zeid et al. Results in Physics 12 (2019) 562–570

Fig. 8. Kubelka-Munk plots of (a) NC0, (b) NC1, (c) NC2, (d) NC3 and (e) NC4 samples.

Fig. 9. Absorption spectra changes of methyl orange dye using (a) pure NiO (NC0) and (b) NiO/0.12 %wt CdO (NC3) after irradiation time under Xenone lamp. (For
interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

567
E.F.A. Zeid et al. Results in Physics 12 (2019) 562–570

Fig. 10. (a) Methyl orange degradation

versus reaction time in the presence of dif-
ferent Catalysts ratio (b) Photodegradation
efficiency for destruction of methyl orange
dye using variable nanocatalyst compounds.
(For interpretation of the references to
colour in this figure legend, the reader is
referred to the web version of this article.)

Table 2 respectively, thus improving the generation of the electric field (charge
Photodegration rates (K), COD % and degradation % for Methyl Orange de- separation process). The previous attitude of the movement is ther-
gradation in the presence of different catalysts. modynamically convenient due to larger conduction and valence band
Sample K (min−1) COD % Degradation % of CdO compared with NiO. Inhibition of the electrons-holes re-
combination process leads to increase quantum efficiency. In the trap-
–3
NC0 1.35 × 10 30.67 34 ping case, the generated electrons react with oxygen molecules and give
NC1 3.81 × 10–3 45.33 45
oxygen radical O2− which used to degradation of organic dye. After
NC2 4.00 × 10–3 57.33 48
NC3 5.29 × 10–3 72.00 60 that, the organic pollutant dye can be decomposed by the oxidation-
NC4 4.60 × 10–3 68.00 50 reduction reactions.
The surface reactions involved in methyl orange degradation given
in the following equations based on earlier reports [50,55,56].
Table 3
Comparison of photocatalytic activity of some nanocomposites against methyl NiO(e− + h+)/CdO(e− + h+) + hv → NiO(e− + e−)/CdO(h+ + h+) (7)
orange dye.
h+ + OH−→OH (8)
Sample Photodegradation efficiency (%) at Ref.
120 min
e− + O2 → ·O−2 (9)
ZnO/CuO (90/10) 28.3 [50]
WO3/Ag2CrO4 (4 wt 37 [51] H2 O+ ·O−2 → OOH·+OH− (10)
%/1)
ATT/TiO2 31 [52] 2OOH·→·O2 + H2 O2 (11)
Att/Fe2O3 20 [52]
Ag2CrO4/SnS2 (2 wt 61.9 [53]
%/1) H2 O2 + O−2 → ·OH + OH− + O2 (12)
ZnO/PANI 45.8 [54]
NiO/CdO (1/0.12 wt%) 60 Present work ·OH + ·O−2 + h+vb + organic dye → degrade organic dye (13)

·OH + ·O2 − + h+vb + degrade organic dye → CO2 + H2 O (14)

The electrons at conduction band and holes at valance band gen-

erated by irradiation diffuse to surface and caused to the further surface
reactions. The generated electrons react with oxygen to give superoxide
radical anions. As well as the separated holes reacts with water to form
the OH radicals. Further, the generated radicals are highly reactive and
causes to the degradation of methyl orange dye.

Conclusion

In the present work, pure NiO nanoparticles and NiO-CdO nano-

Fig. 11. Schematic representation of the role of the optimum content of CdO
(0.12 wt%) on the suggested proposed photocatalytic mechanism of the nano-
composite samples.
composite were successfully prepared with the different amount of CdO
using simple chemical precipitation method at 800 °C for 3 h. Different
analysis methods (XRD, SEM, EDX, Raman, FTIR, and UV–Visible
spectra) used to investigate the influence of CdO content on the struc-
ture, morphology, elemental composition, function groups and optical
properties of the prepared samples. In the presence of CdO, the particle
size and microstrain values increase due to large ionic radii of cadmium
compared with nickel ion. Also, the magnetic behavior of NiO appeared
at the higher content of CdO compared with pure NiO, the formation of
the nanocomposite samples leads to reduce the energy band gap values
due to the presence of CdO. Photocatalytic activity improved with the
increase of CdO in the prepared nanocomposite samples.

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Availability of data and materials
The datasets supporting the conclusions of this article are included
within the article.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interest.
Acknowledgments
The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific
Research at King Khalid University for funding this work through re-
search groups program under Grant Number R.G.P. 1/20/38.
Authors contributions
All the authors provided technical and scientific insight and con-
tributed to the editing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved
the final manuscript.
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