Facile Sonochemical Fabrication of Ag2O–NiO Nanocomposite with Improved Photocatalytic Activity and Electrochemical Sensing Efficiency

Abstract

The silver oxide-nickel oxide nanocomposite SO-NO NC was prepared by a sonochemical technique with Tulsi-leaf extract. The composite material is analyzed using various spectral methods. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) of SO-NO NC shows crystallites of 19.80 nm in size, which matches JCPDS card No. 89–3722. The Scanning Electronic Microscope (SEM) micrographs of the SO: NO NC reveal agglomerated quasi-spherical nanoparticles with a rough and porous surface morphology. Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDAX) shows various signals corresponding to these elements, fully supporting the presence of Ag across the surface of the NiO host structure. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) revealed spherical features, and the average particle size is between 19 and 20 nm. According to the Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) spectra, SO-NO NC has an energy band gap value of 2.95 eV. Fast blue dye photodegradation was used to assess the NC Photocatalytic Activity (PCA); the results show that, under UV-Vis light irradiation, the maximum absorption was observed at 620 nm, with 71.45% degradation. In cyclic-voltammetric investigations, the SO-NO NC is also employed as an electrode. It displays the surface redox mechanism of Ni²⁺ to Ni³⁺, which exhibited an anodic oxidation potential of -0.22 V and cathodic reduction potentials of -0.38 V and -0.09 V at 10 mV s^-1 in 0.1 M KOH solution. The SO-NO NC effectively identified glyphosate by displaying a redox peak in the CVs spectrum.  This result implies that the electrode can be used as a sensor electrode