STUDY OF STRUCTURAL AND TRANSPORT PROPERTIES OF CuFe2O4 SYNTHESISED VIA LOW COST SOLID STATE REACTION ROUTE

The ceramic compound CuFe2O4 was synthesised via conventional high-temperature solid-state reaction route. The structural study of the compound was done using X-ray diffraction technique. The preliminary structural study was performed using POWD software and a tetragonal structure was suggested. The Rietveld refinement of XRD (X-ray Diffraction) data was carried out using FullProf software and the refined lattice parameters were obtained as a = 5.80030 angstrom and c = 8.69400 angstrom with high tetragonality ratio. The crystallite size and lattice strain were calculated using Williamson-Hall (W-H) plot. The temperature and frequency dependent electrical properties of this compound are analysed using complex impedance technique. The impedance and modulus study of the compound showed the contribution of intra-grain effect to the overall electrical response. The studied ceramic possessed a non-Debye-type relaxation mechanism. The bulk resistance decreased with the increase in temperature, thus showing negative temperature coefficient of resistance behaviour. Modulus and conductivity study showed the evidence of conduction via hopping mechanism inside the material. Frequency-dependent AC conductivity followed Jonscher's universal power law. The Arrhenius equation was fitted with the temperature-dependent AC conductivity at different frequencies, and activation energies were determined to understand the charge species involved in the conduction mechanism.