Abstract
A hydrothermal method was employed to synthesize Zn-substituted nickel ferrite nanoparticles at an optimized reaction temperature of 175 °C. X-ray diffraction analysis of as-synthesized nanoparticles exhibited a cubic spinel structure, and the average crystallite size decreased from 41 nm to 31 nm with increasing dopant concentration. Morphological study confirmed the cubic shape of the prepared nanoparticles. Raman spectra exhibited five Raman active modes (A1g + Eg + 3T2g), which are attributed to ferrite. The dielectric constant decreased and became constant with increasing frequency, whereas the AC conductivity demonstrated an increasing trend. The oxidation state and elemental composition of Zn2+, Ni2+ and Fe3+ in Zn-doped NiFe2O4 were confirmed by XPS measurements. Mossbauer spectra were recorded to determine the oxidation state of the iron. The coercivity increased with increasing Zn concentration. The Day plot analysis confirmed the pseudo-single-domain nature of the as-synthesized nanoparticles. Pseudocapacitive behavior was observed for all samples, whereas a high Csp value was achieved for ZNF3 (598 F/g). The LPG sensor made out of the synthesized nanoparticles demonstrated faster response and recovery times of 13 and 31 s, respectively, when exposed to a concentration of 10 ppm.
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