Sol-gel synthesis of CaZnAl2O4 ceramic nanoparticles and investigation of their properties

Dielectric ceramic materials are well-recognized in the semiconductor industry because of their exceptional thermal stability, chemical resistance, and crystallinity. Despite their potential applications, these are also demanded in wireless communication. This paper reports the structural, morphological, and dielectric properties of sol-gel-derived CaZnAl2O4 ceramic nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis exhibited the polycrystalline characteristic of the CaZnAl2O4 nanoparticles with their crystallite size of 13 nm. Fourier-Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis confirmed the relevant vibration peaks of various functional groups present in the ceramic nanoparticles. Surface morphology study demonstrated the preparation of spherical grains with their mean diameter of 16 nm. The concentric rings also confirm the crystallinity of the nanoparticles as appeared in the selected-area diffraction pattern. Furthermore, dielectric properties investigation showed the variation of dielectric permittivity from 23.76 to 21.67 as a function of increased frequency. Similarly, the dielectric loss is found to decrease from 0.047 to 0.039. As a result, the conductivity increased from 1.324 mu S/m to 3.639 mu S/m as a function of applied frequency.