Electrochemical and photoluminescence properties of copper doped haematite nanoparticles

Fe2O3: Cu(1-9 mol%) nanoparticles (NPs) have been synthesized through co-precipitation method. Crystallite size, phase, crystallinity, structural parameters were analyzed by using powder X-ray diffraction. The Bragg reflections confirms that the synthesized NPs crystallizes in hexagonal crystal structure with space group R- 3 c . Surface morphology consist of irregular shaped, uneven sized agglomerated NPs. Energy Dispersive Analysis of X-ray confirms the presence of Fe, O and Cu elements and also purity of the sample. Crystallite size increases, whereas direct band gap energy is found to decrease with increasing dopant concentration. Photoluminescence spectra was recorded under 221 nm excitation wavelength with prominent emission peak at 456 nm. The cyclic voltametry analysis were also carried out to know the redox reactions, electrode kinetics, and electrochemical behavior. Specific capacitance was accomplished via Galvanostatic Charge-Discharge (GCD) analysis and was found to be in the range of 83-132 F/g with increase in dopant concentration. These results suggest that, the synthesized NPs find applications in display as well as in supercapacitor.