Structural, optical and morphological characterization of Cu-doped α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles synthesized through co-precipitation technique

Pure and copper (Cu concentration varying from 2 to 8%) doped hematite (alpha-Fe2O3) nanocrystals were synthesized through co-precipitation method using simple equipment. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA), Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) techniques were used to characterize the synthesized samples. XRD measurements confirm that all the prepared nanocrystals consist only in nanocrystalline hematite phase. These results along with TEM and SEM show that the size of the nanoparticles decreases with Cu-doping down to 21 nm. FT-IR confirm the phase purity of the nanoparticles synthesized. The Raman spectroscopy was used not only to prove that we synthesized pure and Cu-doped hematite but also to identify their phonon modes. The TGA showed three mass losses, whereas DTA resulted in three endothermic peaks. The UV Vis absorption measurements confirm that the decrease of particle size is accompanied by a decrease in the band gap value from 2.12 eV for pure alpha-Fe2O3 down to 1.91 eV for 8% Cu-doped alpha-Fe2O3. 8% Cu-doped hematite had the smallest size, the best crystallinity and the lowest band gap. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.