EFFECT OF NICKEL DOPANT ON STRUCTURAL, MORPHOLOGICAL AND OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF Fe3O4 NANOPARTICLES

In this current work, the effect of different concentrations of nickel (Ni) dopant on the structural, morphological and optical properties of undoped Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) are analyzed. Nickel doped Fe3O4 (NiFe3O4) NPs of five concentrations can be represented as 0.5% as NF1, 1.0 % as NF2, 1.5 % as NF3, 2 % as NF4 and 2.5 % as NF5. Undoped Fe3O4 and NiFe3O4 NPs are prepared by Chemical co-precipitation method from a mixture of FeCl2·4H2O and FeCl3·6H2O salts. Structural, morphological and optical properties of the synthesized undoped Fe3O4 and NiFe3O4 NPs were deliberated by a choice of characterization techniques such as XRD, FTIR, FE-SEM and UVVIS. XRD established the characteristic structure, phase and purity of the synthesized undoped Fe3O4 and NiFe3O4 NPs; Average crystallite size is found to decrease with increasing Ni concentration. Surface morphology of undoped Fe3O4 and NiFe3O4 NPs was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The existence of FTIR peaks at 563.2 cm and 433.5 cm confirmed the formation of Fe3O4 NPs. It is due to the stretching vibrations of the Fe-O bond. The optical absorption of the synthesized nanomaterials was studied by DR UV-Vis spectrometer. Band gap measurements revealed that the indirect band gap values for synthesized Ni-doped nanomaterials (1.25 eV) are higher than the determinant value for the undoped Fe3O4 NPs (0.75 eV) due to a decrease in lattice constant. The results indicated that the Ni-doped Fe3O4 NPs strongly influences the microstructure, crystal structure and energy band gap.