Structural and optical properties of Cu incorporated ZnFe2O4 ferrite nanoparticles prepared by wet chemical route.

We report facile synthesis of Cu incorporated multifunctional ZnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles (Zn 1-x Cu x Fe 2 O 4 ) using simple wet chemical route. The as prepared samples having various Cu cation contents (x = 0 to 0.8) were calcined at 600 °C for 10 h. Samples of particular composition, x = 0.4 (Zn 0·6 Cu 0·4 Fe 2 O 4 ) were calcined at different temperatures (200 °C to 800 °C) to study the effect of calcination on structural and optical properties. X-ray diffraction studies reveal the presence of mixed phases, i.e. normal cubic spinel ferrite and hematite structure (α-Fe 2 O 3 ). Calcination of Zn 0·6 Cu 0·4 Fe 2 O 4 shows further improvement in the crystallinity without segregation of any additional impurity phase. UV-Vis absorbance studies show CuO phase at longer wavelengths for high Cu cation content, while Raman spectral analysis shows the presence of prominent peaks at 220 cm −1 , 287 cm −1 , 400 cm −1 , and relatively weak broad peak at 640 cm −1 corresponding to normal ferrite structure and α-Fe 2 O 3 structure, confirming the X-ray results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]