Structure, optical properties, and magnetism of Zn1-xNixWO4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) solid solution

A novel Zn-1 xNixWO4 (0 <= x <= 1) solid solution with full compositions range has been successfully developed by a hydrothermal-annealing method for the first time. The crystal structure was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectra and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that the entire range of compositions display a single-phase in the wolframite structure with a symmetry P2/c. The diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS) measurements on Zn-1 xNixWO4 (0 <= x <= 1) indicated that the optical band gap size across the solid solution exhibits red-shifts from 2.8 eV to 1.63 eV for indirect transition and 3.56 eV to 2.77 eV for direct transition with the increase of Ni2+ content. As deduced from the magnetic susceptibility measurements on NiWO4 and Zn0.5Ni0.5WO4, they are paramagnetic and obey the Curie-Weiss law. Moreover, their effective magnetic moments are determined to be 9.96 mu(B) and 6.45 mu(B), respectively. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.