Nanocomposites have been investigated by different researchgroups in various parts of the world due to the developmentof new material “architectures” at the nanoscale 1, 2. In theperiodic table, the transition metals are large in number andhave number of applications in different field. Some transitionmetal oxides like ZnO, TiO2,SnO2,CuO, NiO, WO3CeO2and Fe3O4proved as potential candidates for so manyapplications. Semiconductor materials have been particularlyinteresting because of their great practical importancein electronic and optoelectronic devices, such as electrochemicalcell 3, gas sensors 4, magnetic storage devices5, field emitters 6, high-Tc superconductors 7, nanofluid 8 and catalysts 9 etc. Even though enormous metaloxides are available, only limited number of them is mostuseful in science and technology.
Physico-chemical propertiesof special relevance in chemistry are mostly related tothe industrial use of oxides as sensors, ceramics, adsorbentsand catalysts.Numerous studies have been reported on the photocatalyticdegradation of organic compounds using semiconductorparticles as photocatalysts 10–15. Semiconductorsas catalysts have acquired great attraction for their potentialdegradation capacity in the presence of light energy.Among the numerous metal oxides, tin oxide (SnO2) is awide bandgap (3.6 eV) n-type semiconductor which receivesgreat attention in the field of gas sensors, solar cells, lightemission and lithium-ion batteries 15, etc. Substitutionof impurities is an effective way to change in physical andchemical properties of the core material. In the same wayCuO is also one of the useful metal oxides and which hasso many applications in different fields. The unique propertyof CuO is it acts as a semiconductor.
CuO is a distinctp-type metal oxide semiconductor with bandgap of 1.2 eVand SnO2/CuO nanocomposite is synthesized for the manyapplications including photocatalysis and electrochemicalstudies 16, 17. These are known as inexpensive, nontoxicand very effective semiconductor photocatalysts 13–15.
