Study of the solid-state synthesis of nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy.

Chloé Cherpin (1, 2) , Derek Lister (2) , Frederic Dacquait (1) , Lihui Liu (2)

1 LMCT - Laboratoire de Maitrise de la contamination et de la Chimie des Caloporteurs et du Tritium
2 Chemical Engineering Department

Spinel ferrite compounds continue to receive a lot of attention due to their unique properties. Among the numerous synthesis routes existing, the solid-state method was applied for the pro-duction of nickel ferrite, by introducing the use of a quartz vial. A mixture of nickel oxide (NiO) and hematite (Fe2O3) was ground and vacuum-sealed in the vial and different thermal treatment programs were tested. The resulting particles were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy. For temperatures, below 1000 °C, the solid-state reaction is not complete as nickel oxide (NiO) and hematite (Fe2O3) are still present. The reaction time is a decisive parameter for the morphology of the particles obtained. If for different reaction times the particle size distribution is always be-tween 0.3 and 1.7 µm, a longer reaction time leads to the formation of dense, interconnected clus-ters of particles. Optimal parameters to synthesize a pure phase of spherical nickel ferrite were sought and found to be a reaction temperature of 1000 °C for 72 hours.

Keywords: nickel ferrite; solid-state reaction; X-ray diffraction; Raman spectroscopy; scanning electron microscopy

Domains: Chemical Sciences; Inorganic chemistry

Chloé Cherpin, Derek Lister, Frederic Dacquait, Lihui Liu. Study of the solid-state synthesis of nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy.. Materials, 2021, 14, pp.2557. ⟨10.3390/ma14102557⟩. ⟨cea-03330679⟩