Facile auto-combustion synthesis of nanocrystalline BaCoFe6O11-Structural and Optical properties

Abstract

The BaCoFe6O11 (Barium cobalt hexairon (III) oxide) is efficiently synthesized by modified single-step auto-ignition combustion route. The sample crystallized under trigonal structure with a space group R3-m with hexagonal axes obtained from XRD. The XRD determined crystallite size is 10 nm, which is corroborated by the Hall-Williamson plot and Modified Scherrer technique. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy is used to identify the functional group and confirm the phase purity of the sample. Transmission electron microscopy images indicate the sample’s nanocrystalline structure. Additionally, FE-SEM is used to analyse the surface morphology of the material. The optical band gap energy are estimated by using UV–visible spectroscopy and also calculated by Tauc’s plot and Kubelka-Munk function. Photoluminescence emission peaks in the visible region as well as band gap energy values, confirms the sample’s practicality in optoelectronic devices.