Sol-Gel Synthesis and Characterization of Spinel Ferrite Nanoparticles

Ng, Seang Earn (2018) Sol-Gel Synthesis and Characterization of Spinel Ferrite Nanoparticles. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

The objective of this present study was to synthesize and to investigate the characteristics or properties of spinel ferrite nanoparticles. Spinel ferrites are interesting magnetic oxides which attracted excessive attention due to the influential properties when the size and shape are reduced to the nanometer scale. This thesis deals with the synthesis and characterization of spinel ferrite nanoparticles [MFe2O4, M2+ = Co, Cu and Ni]. In this work, the nanoparticles (NPs) of spinel ferrite systems presented are cobalt ferrite oxide (CFO) CoFe2O4, copper ferrite oxide (KFO) CuFe2O4, and nickel ferrite oxide (NFO) NiFe2O4. The spinel ferrite NPs were synthesized by sol-gel method using ethylene glycol (C2H6O2) as the solvent and processed through calcination at 600 C and 850 C for 36 hours with intermediate grinding. The chemical, morphological and optical properties of calcined products were investigated and characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. The formation of spinel structure was determined by FT-IR spectroscopy which confirmed the corresponding two vibration modes were observed within the wavenumber ranging from 600 cm-1 to 400 cm-1. TGA plot showed weight loss indicating no oxygen vacancies. The optical properties were studied by PL spectroscopy from photoluminescence emission and determination of electronic energy band structure along with the photochemical properties of spinel ferrite NPs. Moreover, the properties of spinel ferrite NPs strongly depend on the size and shape. The morphological analysis was carried out by SEM indicating that the particle size of NPs increases with the calcination temperature as a result of aggregation. The elemental analysis was studied by EDX spectroscopy which confirmed the composition in spinel ferrite NPs.