Synthesis and characterization of indium tin and lithium substituted copper ferrite nanoparticles and its application as lpg gas sensor

Abstract

The synthesized copper ferrite nanoparticles can be used in many potential applications. Also, the synthesized material has the application of solar cell, gas sensor, super capacitors etc. Their structural, dielectric and magnetic properties are altered with substitution of impurity atoms. The transition metal, post transition metal and alkali metal substituted copper ferrite are considered as new material due to their potential applications. In the present work, indium, tin and lithium are selected as substitute elements and copper ferrite is chosen as the base material. Chemical co-precipitation method could be used to substitute the elements in copper ferrite. X-ray diffraction analysis of the synthesized copper ferrite and substituted copper ferrite nanoparticles exhibits cubic structure. The most preferential peak is identified by comparing with JCPDS standard values. The nanocrystalline nature was improved while substitution of indium element. For all samples, the particle size is increased with increase of concentration. Also, the samples exhibit the impurity phase at 600 °C with further increase of sintering temperature. The impurity phase is vanished. The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis reveals the formation of pure and substituted copper ferrite nanoparticles. From this analysis, the particle shows aggregate nature. Also, particle size is increased with increase of sintering temperature. The Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) affirms the purity and stoichiometric weight percentage of the substituted copper ferrite nanoparticles. The presence of In, Sn, Fe, O, Cu has been affirmed from the EDS analysis. The Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) shows the particle size and well defined structure. It is in good agreement with XRD results. Also, the agglomeration is observed in the microstructure. newline newline newline