Effect of Cu 2+ Doping on Structural and Optical Properties of Synthetic Zn 0.5 Cu x Mg 0.5-x Fe 2 O 4 (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) Nano-Ferrites

Abstract

The samples of Zn0.5CuxMg0.5-xFe2O4 nanoparticle ferrites, with x= 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 were successfully synthesised. Structural and optical properties were investigated by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and UV-visible spectroscopy. The structural studies showed that all the samples prepared through the Co-precipitation method was a single phase of a face-cantered-Cubic (FCC) spinel symmetry structures with space group (SG): Fd-3m. In the series Zn0.5CuxMg0.5-xFe2O4, the lattice parameter was found to be 8.382 Å for x = 0 and was found to increase with copper concentration. The grain size obtained from the XRD data analyses was found to be in the range of 15.97 to 28.33 nm. The increased in the grain size may be due to the large ionic radius of Mg+2 (0.86 Å) compared with Cu+2 (0.73 Å). The FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the formation of spinel ferrite and showed the characteristics absorption bands around 580, 1112, 1382, 1682, 1632 and 2920 cm−1. The energy band gap was calculated for samples were found to be in the range 4.04 to 4.67 eV.