Photo-degradation of organic dyes: simple chemical synthesis of Ni(OH)2 nanoparticles, Ni/Ni(OH)2 and Ni/NiO magnetic nanocomposites

In this work Ni, Ni(OH) 2 , NiO nanoparticles as well as Ni/Ni(OH) 2 and Ni/NiO nanocomposites were synthesized via a simple chemical precipitation method in aqueous solution. The prepared products were characterized by X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Alternating gradient force magnetometer (AGFM) illustrated ferro-magnetic behaviour of Ni nanoparticles as well as Ni/Ni(OH) 2 and Ni/NiO nanocomposites. The photocatalytic behaviour of Ni–NiO nanocomposites was evaluated using the degradation of organic dyes under ultraviolet light irradiation. The results show that Ni–NiO nanocomposites have applicable magnetic and photocatalytic performance.