Investigation of Structural, Morphological and Optical Characteristic of Co-precipitated ZnFe2O4 Nanoparticle

Abstract

Zinc Ferrite (ZnFe₂O₄) nanoparticles have gained high interest due to their unique structural, morphological, vibrational behavior and optical response which make them appropriate materials for range of advanced technological applications. In this study ZnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles were prepared through co-precipitation method. Zinc chloride (ZnCl₂) and ferric chloride hexahydrate (FeCl₃.6H₂O) used as the precursor salts and precipitating agent sodium hydroxide (NaOH) respectively. The synthesized material was systematically characterized to study the structural, morphological, chemical bonding and optical behavior. The (XRD) pattern indicate the formation of cubic spinel phase of ZnFe₂O₄. The characteristic diffraction peaks that occurred at (220), (311), (511) and (440) crystallographic planes. The crystallite size of the synthesized material is calculated from the strongest diffraction peak by means of the Debye–Scherrer formula is around 13.24 nm that supports the nanocrystalline character of the material. The formation of the ferrite lattice was evidenced by the presence of characteristic vibrational bands at ~482 and 772 cm^-1 as confirmed by (FTIR).  The morphology and surface features of the created nanoparticles were examined by (SEM) technique. The optical properties of sample was investigated by the UV–Visible spectroscopy and its optical band gap was calculated the Tauc method. The band-gap energy obtained is about 2.2 e v which can be correlated with semiconducting property of ZnFe₂O₄ and its capacity to absorb the visible light