PREPARATION OF HIGH QUALITY NANOCOMPOSITES OF CuO/TiO2 WITH Ar+ IONS IRRADIATION WITH ENHANCED PHOTOELECTRONIC PROPERTIES

In this research work, nanocomposites of CuO/TiO2 were initially fabricated using drop casting method. Later on, these nanocomposites were irradiated for the first time by a beam of Argon ions (Ar+) by keeping the fluence rates of 1×1014 ions cm−2, 1×1015 ions cm−2, and 1×1016 ions cm−2, respectively. In order to observe structural and optical properties of un-irradiated and irradiated nanocomposites, Raman Spectroscopy, Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Photoluminescence (PL) and Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) analysis were performed. From Raman analysis, vibration modes confirmed the presence of different phases of TiO2 and CuO. EDX analysis clearly demonstrates the presence of Cu, Ti, and O peaks. SEM images depict agglomerated spherical nanoparticles having diameters in the range of 40–94nm. From TEM analysis, mean diameter of 56.1nm is observed for unirradiated and 33.7nm for Ar+ irradiated CuO/TiO2 nanoparticles in nanocomposite for fluence rates of 1×1014 ions cm−2, 1×1015 ions cm−2, and 1×1016 ions cm−2. HR-TEM and SAED images represent the polycrystalline nature of these nanocomposites.Among the three peaks of PL spectra in UV–Visible region, first two peaks were observed at 356nm, and 419nm but the third peak is little shifted from 488nm with the increase in fluence rate. Values of band gap are reduced from 3.29eV to 3.17eV as the fluence rate is increased, as calculated from results of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy.