Investigation of structural and electrical properties of ZnMn2O4 synthesized by sol-gel method

In this present study, we have reported the synthesis of ZnMn2O4, transitional metal oxide by sol-gel method. The structural and morphological properties are confirmed using various characterization techniques namely XRD, FT-IR and SEM with EDX. Dielectric studies of ZnMn2O4 are measured at the frequency varying from 50 Hz to 5 MHz for the temperature range of 303-573 K. The temperature dependent electrical parameters like impedance and modulus exhibit a strong correlation with the grains, grain boundaries and space charge effects in the synthesized material. Diffusion of oxygen vacancies in the dipoles and defects in the material due to oxygen vacancy complexes are investigated by the activation energy obtained from Arrhenius plot. It was found that the relaxation process was dominated by the hopping mechanism between the Mn3+ and Mn4+. Nyquist plot of impedance was attributed to the existence of space charge interface, grain boundary and grain conduction mechanism of the material.