Elangbam C. Devi; Ibetombi Soibam
Abstract
Manganese ferrite nanoparticles with chemical formula MnFe2O4 have been synthesized by low temperature chemical co-precipitation method. The structural and optical properties of the nanoparticles were studied by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray ...
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Manganese ferrite nanoparticles with chemical formula MnFe2O4 have been synthesized by low temperature chemical co-precipitation method. The structural and optical properties of the nanoparticles were studied by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) and UV-visible absorption spectroscopy. XRD confirm pure spinel phase formation of the prepared sample. All the observed peaks correspond to the standard diffraction pattern of manganese ferrite having JCPDS card number 74-2403. From the XRD data, the average crystallite size was calculated and found to be 27.40 nm. The FTIR spectrum shows the characteristic bands of the spinel ferrite. Morphology of the nanoferrites was given by SEM image revealing that the particles are approximately spherical in shape. The elemental composition along with their relative ratios was given by EDAX and was found to be in agreement with their initial calculated values. UV- visible absorption spectrum of the prepared sample shows characteristic absorption in visible range and from the UV-visible absorption data the band gap of the prepared sample was determined. MnFe2O4 nanoparticles were found to possess a narrow band gap of 1.4 eV which may find applications in photocatalytic degradation of pollutants. The simple co-precipitation method proves to be an effective method for synthesis of pure phase manganese ferrite nanoparticles. Copyright © 2017 VBRI Press.