Structural and optical properties of nanocrystalline Ni-Zn ferrite thin films

Nanocrystalline ferrite thin films of Ni1-xZnxFe2O4 (with x = 0.0-1.0, in the steps of x = 0.2) were prepared successfully by chemical bath deposition (CBD) method using nickel (II) chloride, zinc (II) chloride and iron (II) chloride as a constituent materials. The prepared thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and UV-vis spectrophotometer at room temperature. X-ray diffraction studies revealed the formation of single phase spinel structure of the film. The crystallite size was determined using Scherrer formula and it is found to be of the order of 16-20 nm. The surface morphological studies of the films under investigation were carried out by SEM technique. The SEM images were used to obtain grain size which is of the order of 32-36 nm. IR spectra show two prominent peaks around 600 cm(-1) and 400 cm(-1). Optical studies were carried out using UV-vis spectrophotometer. The band gap values are varies from 1.55 eV to 1.66 eV for varying zinc composition. The experimental results show that, CBD method allows the synthesis of nanocrystalline Ni1-xZnxFe2O4 films with cubic spinel phase. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.