Study of structural and magnetic traits of cobalt incorporated nickel oxide nanoparticles

Herein, we report the synthesis of Cobalt-incorporated NiO nanoparticles (CoxNi1-xO, x = 0-0.05) fabricated by the sol-gel combustion method using leaf extract of Moringa Oleifera as a fuel. The effect of cobalt doping on NiO NPs was analyzed by different analytical techniques such as XRD, SEM with EDS, UV-Vis, TEM, and VSM. XRD data validates the formation of cubic nickel oxide nanoparticles and the size of nanoparticles varies from 17.04 nm to 20.47 nm. The band gap energy was obtained from UV-vis spectroscopy (2.70 eV-3.18 eV) and a noteworthy blue shift was observed in the spectral span of 200-800 nm. The SEM and TEM micrographs of the fabricated samples display nano-flake-like morphology. Magnetic traits such as coercivity, retentivity, saturation magnetization, squareness ratio magnetic moment, and anisotropy constant were calculated from VSM analysis. Furthermore, pure and doped NiO NPs were tested for their antimicrobial activity against Klebsiella pnuemoniae, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus aureus. Within the mentioned bacterial species, Coincorporated NiO NPs displayed high growth inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (23 mm).