Structural characterization, lattice features, and optical, and magnetic properties of Ni-Cr oxide nanocomposite

Abstract

In the present study, the nanocomposite of Ni-Cr oxide was synthesized through the chemical co-precipitation route with different ratios of NiO to Cr2O3, including 50–50, 60 − 40, and 70 − 30 wt. %. The morphological and physical properties of products were assessed thoroughly. Moreover, the possible chemical reactions through synthesis were proposed based on FTIR and XRD results. The crystallite size, the lattice strain, and stress were evaluated through some well-known methods based on XRD diffraction. The particle size and morphology of produced powders were studied by FESEM imaging. Also, the optical and magnetic features were assessed by UV-Vis spectroscopy and VSM analysis, respectively. The results proved the presence of NiO and NiCr2O4 in the calcined products, with uniform distribution of elements and an average particle size of < 30 nm. Moreover, the crystallite size, and the lattice stress and strain decreased with increasing NiO in the product. According to the VSM curves, nanocomposite powders showed a weak ferro/ferrimagnetic signal with a fairly dominant superparamagnetic feature. While the largest coercivity of 252 Oe belonged to the sample 70 − 30, the highest magnetization saturation (0.291 emu/g) was observed for 50–50. According to the UV-Vis curves, the value of band gap energy was in the semiconductor’s domain and increased by NiO value in the hybrid oxide combination.