Influence of Different Calcination Conditions on the Microstructure and Phase Constitution of Nickel-Zinc Ferrite Nanocrystalline Powders Prepared by a Sol-Gel Auto-Combustion Method

Abstract

In this work, nickel-zinc ferrite nanocrystalline powder has been prepared by a sol-gel autocombustion technique using nitrate-citrate gel obtained from metal nitrates and citric acid solution. Characterization of the nitrate-citrate gel, as-burnt powder and calcined powder at different calcination conditions were investigated by using XRD, FTIR and SEM techniques. The results revealed that the nitrate-citrate gel exhibits a self-propagating behavior after ignition and showed that the different calcination conditions affect the crystallite size of the synthesized powder as well as its phase constitution.