Effect of reaction time on the morphological, compositional, and optical properties of nickel ferrite films

In this work, the nickel ferrite films are formed by exposing the precursor solution in the vapor of ammonia. The effect of variation in reaction time of ammonia vapors and the solution is studied on nickel ferrite films’ properties. Depending upon the exposure time, the thickness of films is found to increases from 183 nm to 250 nm with an increase in the reaction time from 30 to 60 minutes with an increment of 10 minutes. Along with the thickness, the particle size increases from 23 nm to 25 nm to 29 nm and then to 29.5 nm, respectively. Increased reaction time is observed to enhance Ni ions’ atomic percentage in the films from 7.01% to 14.62%. A significant variation in the optical band gaps is observed from 3.7 eV to 3.3 eV.