Phase Formation, Structural, and Microstructural Characterizations of Ilmenite FeTiO3 Nanopowder Prepared from Liquid-Mixing Method

Abstract

Ilmenite FeTiO3 is a wide-band gap antiferromagnetic semiconductor material and has very potential for applications in spintronic devices. Miniaturization of microelectronics and communication systems has become a necessity. Thus a material that can achieve high antiferromagnetic semiconductor properties in a small volume is therefore favourite. For that reason, particles of the materials must also be in the nanoscale. This paper reports the synthesis of nano-sized Ilmenite FeTiO3 powder using the liquid-mixing method. Using this method, FeTiO3 crystalline phase was initially formed at a temperature as low as 340 °C. The phase formation was analyzed from room temperature to 600 °C based on TGA/DTA, FTIR and XRD data. Rietveld's analysis stated that 84 % molar FeTiO3 phase was formed at 340 °C, and the rest was TiO2 rutile. By using the Scherrer method, the average crystallite size was calculated to be 38-43 nm, while the TEM data provides grain sizes of 20-40 nm.