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The work function of metals was calculated using the metallic plasma model (MPM). The results obtained were compared with the available results of the stabilized jellium model (SJM), Ab-initio model and the experimental values. Result shows that the stabilized jellium model was in good agreement with experimental values for the simple metals, the transition, inner transition and rare-earth metals. The metallic plasma model gave results that are agreeable with experimental values for most of the metals especially the polycrystalline metals. The ab-initio results were higher than experimental values except for Ba, Ca and Sr, this shows that the metallic plasma model is more reliable in predicting the work function of metals.

In this work, a model for computing the relaxation time, Fermi velocity and Fermi temperature of deformed metals was developed based on free electron theory. This study generalized the work of Kiejna and Pogosov (2000) due to the shortcomings of the electron density parameter of deformed metals. They failed to account for metal dilation by assuming a constant value for the Poisson ratio of metals which leads to neglect of the uniaxial strain (deformation) in their computation. This causes the electron density parameter of both deformed and undeformed metals to be equal. The result obtained in this work revealed that there is an agreement between the experimental and computed values of the Fermi velocity, Fermi temperature and relaxation time of some of the metals calculated which shows the validity of the model used in the study. The experimental value used in this work is theoretically obtained by substituting the experimental value of Fermi energy obtained from solid state Physics by Charles Kittel (1976) into the model used in the computation. The Fermi velocity, Fermi temperature and relaxation time of all the metals subjected to different deformation decreases as deformation increases. This seems to suggest that as deformation increases the collision frequency between the interacting electron decreases which forces the relaxation time, Fermi velocity and Fermi temperature to decrease as deformation increases. This behavior could also be due to an increase in the inter-atomic spacing between the interacting electrons in the metals during deformation which reduces the strength of interaction between the electrons in metal and their-by forces the relaxation time, Fermi velocity and Fermi temperature to decrease as deformation increases.

Cadmium nickel (Cd-Ni) ferrite samples have been successfully synthesized via chemical co-precipitation technique. The structural analysis revealed the formation of FCC framework and Fe-phase in a trivalent state. The crystallite size is decreased with increasing Cd2+ ion composition whereas the lattice constant is increased. SEM was used to obtain the surface morphology and average grain size of the microstructure. The FTIR shows the formation of metal oxide, hydroxyl and carboxylic groups. EDX revealed the formation of Ni2+, Cd2+, Fe3+, and O2- ions in proper stoichiometric composition. Large optical losses were revealed by Cd2+ poor-NiFe2O4 samples whereas Cd2+ rich-CdxNi1-xFe2O4 samples revealed low optical losses and showed enhanced photoconductivity and photoelectric effect. Result from optical analysis showed that Cd2+ rich-CdxNi1-xFe2O4 nanoparticles can be used as infrared (IR) detector, ultraviolet (UV) filter and in optoelectronics device applications. VSM measurement showed an increase in saturation magnetization and decrease in coercivity as Cd2+ ion content is increased. The remanance magnetization and magnetic anisotropy were also examined. Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy examined the nature of the light emission of the samples at the excitation wavelength 380 nm and emission of series of colours such as red, green, yellow, orange and violet light at different wavelengths were found.