An approach to nickel ferrite synthesis

Abstract

In this letter, a new approach to the synthesis of nickel ferrite has been performed. Nickel ferrite nanoparticles have been prepared via a straightforward method by simply heating iron-nickel tertracyanide powder (FeNi(CN)4·3H2O) in air at 400 °C for only 5 min. During the heating process, it was observed that iron-nickel cyanide powder ignites at a certain point in the material and then this ignition propagates in a wave-like manner through the rest of the mass. As the ignition front propagated through the material, an extreme expansion occurred in a way similar to musical accordion and eventually formed nickel ferrite nanoparticles. Samples were characterized using XRD, SEM, HRTEM, TGA and Raman spectroscopy. All analysis confirmed the successful formation of single phase nickel ferrite. The present method can be extended to synthesize other ferrites. The presented approach is characterized by both simplicity and scalability which makes it promising for industrial utilization.