Auto Combustion Synthesis, Microstructural and Magnetic Characteristics of Nickel Ferrite Nanoparticles

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Nickel ferrite nanoparticles are of great interest in various technical and medical applications, such as in sensors, biomedicine and catalysis. In the current investigation, NiFe2O4 nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized via the sol-gel self-ignited process using citric acid as fuel. Methods/Statistical Analysis: Self-ignited sol-gel process was adopted to prepare the sol with the addition of a suitable amount of ethanol. The sol was stirred at 80°C to achieve the dried gel. Thereafter, the dried gel was self-ignited through sol-gel method to reduce the metal iron and to attain the residual precursor. Finally, the residual precursor powder was sintered in air at 700°C for 4 hrs to obtained NiFe2O4 nanoparticles. XRD, FESEM, TEM, FTIR and XPS were used to characterize the synthesized products. Findings: The results confirm the formation of single phase spinel structure, identical grain size (~25 nm) and nodular particle morphology. Magnetic measurements indicated that nanocrystalline ferrite (NiFe2O4) nanoparticles are soft ferromagnetic in nature with high saturation magnetization 44.36 emu/g which is smaller than bulk one. Applications/Improvements: Self-ignited sol-gel method has salient advantages for the synthesis of novel ferrite nanoparticles (soft magnets) having improved performance well suited to drug delivery, magnetic resonance imaging and catalysis etc.