Impacts of annealing temperature on microstructure, optical and electromagnetic properties of zinc ferrites nanoparticles synthesized by polymer assisted sol-gel method

Nanocrystalline zinc ferrite (NZF) were successfully synthesized at different calcination temperature via sol-gel method from the precursor salt solutions using tartaric acid and PVA solution as a chelating agent and binder respectively. The characterization of NZF and their properties had been investigated using sophisticated techniques viz. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy, Transmission electron microscopy, Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV–Vis-NIR spectroscopy, Vibrating sample magnetometer and Impedance analyzer. X-ray peak profile analysis through Debye Scherer and Wilson method, Halder-Wagner method has been used to estimate the structural parameters. The crystallite size and particle size of ZnFe2O4 samples were found to increases with increasing annealing temperature while lattice parameters and lattice strain decreases. Dynamic light scattering and zeta potential measurements were used to evaluate the particle size distribution and stability of these systems. The room temperature magnetic properties measurement showed that the net magnetic moment is observed for NZF due to cation distribution although the bulk ZnFe2O4 is non-magnetic. Direct optical band gaps of the prepared NZF samples has been investigated by UV–Vis NIR spectroscopy using Tauc formula and found that energy band gaps (Eg) values are in a narrow range of 1.19–1.86 eV. The frequency dependent dielectric properties, impedance and modulus spectroscopy measurement has been investigated in the frequency range of 100 Hz to 20 MHz. The synthesized NZF particles will be applied for Gas sensor, humidity sensor and photocatalyst