The influence of reaction and annealing temperature on physical and magnetic properties of CuFe2O4 nanoparticles : Hydrothermal method

Abstract

Pure copper ferrite nanoparticles (CuFe2O4 NPs) were synthesized by using a simple hydrothermal method and annealed at different levels of temperatures. The single–phase cubic spinel structure was confirmed by X-ray diffraction pattern and average crystallite size was found to increase from 34 to 42 nm as the annealing temperature increases. FT-IR spectra confirmed metal oxides Fe-O and Cu-O, the formation of pure spinel magnetic copper ferrite nanoparticles. The five Raman active modes of vibrations confirmed the cubic structure of prepared yield (A1g + Eg + 3T2g). The average particle size identified by TEM analysis exists within the nano range with cubic structures. The magnitudes of the zeta potential indicated the potential stability and surface charge of the nanoparticles. The pore size was estimated by BJH technique and the obtained distribution as 18.5 nm in diameter. The optical study revealed the decreasing nature of the bandgap with increasing annealing temperature. The dielectric parameters were analysed with varying frequency range and it was observed that decreasing nature of dielectric loss is suitable for microwave application. The influence of annealing temperature revealed the increase of saturation magnetization, remanence and coercivity owing to the increased crystallite size. The electrochemical analyses of as-prepared and the annealed (750 °C) CuFe2O4 NPs exhibited high specific capacitance at a low scan rate which indicates the good result for supercapacitor application.