The Effect of Tartaric Acid Concentration on the Structural, Morphological and Optical Properties of CuO-Fe2O3-MgO Nanocomposite

Abstract

In the present study, the sol-gel method has been utilized to synthesize tri-phase CuO-Fe2O3-MgOnanocomposites (NCs) by employing tartaric acid (TA) as an organic fuel. The obtained NCs were characterized using XRD, SEM, FTIR, and UV-Vis. The XRD pattern asserted the formation of NCs with MgO (cubic), CuO (monoclinic), and Fe2O3 (hexagonal) crystals. The crystallite size (Dav) was calculated by Scherrer's formula, whereas the optical properties were assessed using UV-Vis spectra. The optical band gap values of the synthesized materials displayed variations related to tartaric acid concentration due to the quantum confinement of tri-metal oxide NCs. The SEM described the morphological properties and FTIR confirmed the formation of interfaces among the metal oxides CuO, Fe2O3 and MgO in the NCs. The enhanced optical properties of these tri-metal oxide NCs make them a good candidate for optoelectronic applications.