Structural and Optical Properties of Mg_1-x Zn_x Fe₂ O₄ Nano-Ferrites Synthesized Using Co-Precipitation Method

Abdalrawf I. Ahmed¹, Mohamed A. Siddig^1*, Abdulmajid A. Mirghni^1,2, Mohamed I. Omer³, Abdelrahman A. Elbadawi¹

¹Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Alneelain University, Khartoum, Sudan.
²Department of Physics, Faculty of Education, Al Fashir University, Al Fashir, Sudan.
³Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Nile Valley University, Atbara, Sudan.

DOI: 10.4236/anp.2015.42006                

Abstract

In this work, the Mg_1-x Zn_x Fe₂ O₄ Nanoferrites (where x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8) was synthesized using co-precipitation method. The investigation of structural and optical properties was carried out for the synthesized samples using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Ultraviolet visible spectrophotometer (UV-Vis). XRD revealed that the structure of these nanoparticles is spinel with space group Fd3m and crystallite size lies in the range 21.0 - 42.8 nm. Lattice parameter was found to increases with Zn concentration and this may be due to the larger ionic radius of the Zn²⁺ ion. FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the formation of spinel ferrite and showed the characteristics absorption bands around 612, 1146, 1404, 1649 and 3245 cm^-1. The energy band gap was calculated for samples with different ratio and was found to be 4.77, 4.82, 4.86, 4.87 and 4.95 eV. The substitution was resulted in slight increased in the lattice constant and that sequentially may lead to the slightly decreased in the energy gap.

Keywords

Co-precipitation Method, Ferrite Nanoparticles, Spinel Structure, XRD

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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