Estimation of Lattice Strain in Lanthanum Hexa Aluminate Nanoparticles Using X-Ray Peak Profile Analysis

Abstract

This work confers to the preparation of Lanthanum Hexa Aluminate (LHA) nanoparticles by chemical precipitation and filtration technique followed by characterization studies conducted through X-ray peak profile analysis (XPPA) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) supported by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). From the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, it has been observed that the prepared powder has hexagonal crystal structure. Further, Scherrer Method (S-M), modified Williamson–Hall (W-H), and Size–Strain Plot (SSP) methods have been implemented to all LHA reflection peaks for the comprehensive crystalline analysis. The influence of crystallite size, stress, strain, and energy density values on the peak broadening of LHA nanoparticles has been critically examined and discussed in the current work. In addition to regular mathematical models this paper also provides an insight into the calculation of Youngs modulus without tedious experimental procedure. The predicted crystallite size estimated from Scherrer’s formula, and W-H models are correlated to scanning electron microscopy results and observed that the average grain size of LHA nano particles estimated from SEM analysis, and models have less deviation in the present study.