Synthesis and study of structural, optical and magnetic properties of BiFeO3–ZnFe2O4 nanocomposites

In this work, structural, optical and magnetic properties of (1 −x )BiFeO 3 –xZnFe 2 O 4 (BFO–ZFO, x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1) nanocomposite prepared by sol–gel method were studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and Furrier transform infrared spectroscopy were investigated to determine the phase analysis and structural properties. XRD patterns indicated the presence of both BFO and ZFO crystalline phases. The averaged grain size and micro-strain was also determined using Scherrer formula and Williamson–Hall analysis. The agglomerated nature of the particles with continuous grain growth in all directions were found by the analysis of scanning electron microscope micrographs. UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy spectra showed that the optical band-gap was decreased by increasing zinc ferrite content. Magnetic properties of the samples were examined by vibrating sample magnetometer. The magnetic phase transition from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic order was observed by increasing Zn ferrite content.