X-ray Diffraction Analysis of Cu2+ Doped Zn1-xCuxFe2O4 Spinel Nanoparticles using Williamson-Hall Plot Method

Abstract

The nanoparticles (NPs) of Zn1-xCuxFe2O4 (ZCFO) spinels with x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 were synthesized by a sol-gel combustion method using acetate precursor. The synthesized NPs of ZCFO were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis using Rietveld structure refinement. The Rietveld refinement of the XRD patterns revealed that the ZCFO spinels crystallize into diamond cubic structure with Fd m space group. The lattice constant and unit cell volume for ZCFO NPs shrink with enhancing doping concentration of Cu2+ ion. The crystalline growth in the NPs of ZCFO was examined by peak broadening present in the XRD pattern. The Williamson-Hall (W-H) plot method was used to study the individual role of crystallite sizes and lattice strain on the peak broadening of the NPs of ZCFO spinels. High-resolution scanning electron microscopy was also done to confirm the particle size. © 2019 American Institute of Physics Inc.. All rights reserved.