Surfactant Effect on Bandgap and Crystallite Size of ZnO–TiO₂–CeO₂ Nanocomposites

Multiphase, mixed metal oxide material composites at nanosize with wide bandgap are capable of good electronic functionality at higher temperature compared with existing semiconducting materials. In this work, ZnO–TiO₂ semiconducting metal oxide doped with 0.1 M CeO₂ ternary composite is prepared by solid-state method and surfactants like hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) and Sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) are used as reacting agents. Prepared nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), FESEM, and UV–Visible spectroscopy for the observation of crystallite size, surface morphology, and bandgap calculation sequentially. Crystallite size was calculated by using Debye–Scherrer method and was reconfirmed with Williamson–Hall and size–strain plot methods. The results revealed that mixed metal oxide composite generates a new energy level at 2.6 eV. Nanocomposite modified with hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) exhibits good optical absorption, around 16–20 nm crystallite size is obtained and also homogeneous distribution of particles is observed.