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Effect of ZnO coating on two different sized α-Fe nanoparticles: synthesis and detailed investigation of their structural, optical, hyperfine and magnetic characteristics

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Abstract

The growth of metal–semiconductor (α-Fe/ZnO) bi-functional nanocomposites (NCs) by a wet-chemical route has been reported in the present article. Structural characterization by X-ray diffraction measurements confirmed the formation of the pure phase nanocomposite along with some oxide impurity appeared as the surface passivation layer on Fe nanoparticles. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopic studies have demonstrated the nature of the functional groups present in the samples. A red shift in the ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectrum of the NCs indicates the band gap modification of ZnO due to the presence of metallic α-Fe nanoparticles in close proximity. Photoluminescence (PL) emission spectra of the NCs show a blue shift with respect to the pristine ZnO which corroborates the close-proximity effect. The successful formation of nanocomposite is also evidenced from the band shift observed in UV–Vis and PL spectra. Some defect related emission peaks are also traced in the PL spectra. Magnetization measurements reveal that the saturation magnetization is very high for these NCs attributed to the dominant surface contribution. Mössbauer study traces some paramagnetic phase formed due to the surface passivation layer along-with larger particles of Fe in the ordered state.

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Acknowledgements

Authors express their gratitude to Dr. A.K. Sinha and Dr. V. Ganesan for their kind support and encouragements. Authors also thank to Dr. A. Banerjee and Dr. V. G. Sathe, UGC DAE CSR, Indore for Magnetization measurements and Raman measurements respectively, Dr. A. Saha, UGC DAE CSR, Kolkata for the optical measurements, Mr. Shubhabrata Chakraborty (IIEST, Shibpur) for transmission electron microscope measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, University Campus, Khandwa Road, Indore, 452001, India

    A. K. Rathore

  2. UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, III/LB-8, Bidhannagar, Kolkata, 700098, India

    A. K. Rathore, S. P. Pati, A. Roychowdhury & D. Das

  3. Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, Howrah, 711103, India

    A. K. Rathore & Manojit Ghosh

  4. Department of Electronic Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-7985, Japan

    S. P. Pati

  5. Department of Physics, Krishnath College, Berhampore, West Bengal, 742101, India

    A. Roychowdhury

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Correspondence to Manojit Ghosh.

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Rathore, A.K., Pati, S.P., Ghosh, M. et al. Effect of ZnO coating on two different sized α-Fe nanoparticles: synthesis and detailed investigation of their structural, optical, hyperfine and magnetic characteristics. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 28, 6950–6958 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-017-6395-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-017-6395-7

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