X-ray Diffraction Analysis of Cu2+ Doped Zn1-xCuxFe2O4 Spinel Nanoparticles using Williamson-Hall Plot Method

The nanoparticles (NPs) of Zn1-xCuxFe2O4 (ZCFO) spinels with x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 were synthesized by a sol-gel combustion method using acetate precursor. The synthesized NPs of ZCFO were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis using Rietveld structure refinement. The Rietveld refinement of the XRD patterns revealed that the ZCFO spinels crystallize into diamond cubic structure with Fd (3) over barm space group. The lattice constant and unit cell volume for ZCFO NPs shrink with enhancing doping concentration of Cu2+ ion. The crystalline growth in the NPs of ZCFO was examined by peak broadening present in the XRD pattern. The Williamson-Hall (W-H) plot method was used to study the individual role of crystallite sizes and lattice strain on the peak broadening of the NPs of ZCFO spinels. High-resolution scanning electron microscopy was also done to confirm the particle size.