Sol-gel combustion synthesis and characterization of nanostructure copper chromite spinel

Nanocomposite copper chromite spinel was fabricated by sol-gel process using copper nitrate trihydrate, chromium nitrate nonahydrate, ethylene glycol, diethyl ether, and citric acid. The thermoanalytical measurements (TG-DTG), X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and energy dispersive X-ray analysis were used to characterize the structural and the chemical features of the nanocomposites. TG-DTG results showed that the major mass loss for copper(II) nitrate, chromium(III) nitrate as precursors occur at 258 and 140 A degrees C, respectively. The major mass loss for dried gel of copper chromite occurs at 310 A degrees C. XRD data revealed the formation of pure copper chromite after thermal decomposition at 1,000 A degrees C for 2 h. The observation of XRD patterns reveals the presence of single-phase tetragonal spinel CuCr2O4. FESEM analysis of calcined composite was found to be in the range of 20-30 nm.