Structural, Optical and Surface Morphological Studies of Nanosized NiFe2O4 Particles Synthesized By Sol-Gel Method R. Kesavamoorthi a and Dr. C. Ramachandra Rajab Department of Physics, Government Arts College (Auto), Kumbakonam-612 001, Tamilnadu, India. Abstract Nickel Ferrite particles were successfully synthesized at room temperature using Sol-Gel method. The samples are annealed at various temperatures of 350°C and 550°C respectively. The characterization studies of the synthesized ferrite particles was carried out using XRD, SEM, FTIR, UVVisible spectrum, and EDX spectrum. The synthesized ferrite particles can be used for very good material for Electronic devices technology, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Magnetic data storage, Biomedicine and solidstate gas sensing applications. Keywords: Nickel Ferrite, Sol-Gel, XRD, SEM, EDX, FTIR, and UV-Visible. Introduction Nanosized spinel ferrite particles, a kind of soft magnetic materials with structural formula of MFe2O4 (M = divalent metal ion, e.g. Mn, Mg, Zn, Ni, Co, Cu, etc.). Spinel ferrites in nanoform are one of the most attracting classes of materials due to their interesting and important properties such as low saturation magnetic moment and low magnetic transition temperature, etc [1]. Electrical and magnetic properties of ferrites depend upon the nature of the ions, their charges and their distribution among tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (B) sites [2]. Among various ferrites, which form a major constituent of the magnetic ceramic materials, nanosized nickel ferrite possesses attractive properties for the application as soft magnets, core materials in power transformers and low loss materials at high frequencies. This ferrite is a cubic-spinel in which eight units of NiFe2O4 go into a unit cell of the spinel structure. Half of the ferric ions preferentially fill the tetrahedral sites (A-sites) and the others occupy the octahedral sites (B-sites). Thus the compound can be represented by the formula (Fe3+) A [Ni2+Fe3+]B O42-. The synthesis of spinel ferrite nanoparticles has been intensively studied in the recent years and the principal role of the preparation conditions on the morphological and structural features of the ferrites is discussed. Synthesis of NiFe2O4 Nanoparticles Nickel ferrite nano particles were synthesized from nitrate precursor’s solution. All chemicals and solvents were obtained from AR grade and used without further purification. The Nickel Nitrate [Ni (NO3)].6H2O and Iron Nitrate [Fe (NO3)2] .9H2O as starting materials were weighed in 1:1 proportions. Each starting materials was separately weighed and made a solution with an independent concentration of 0.2 M. XRD Analysis of Nickel Ferrite Powder X-ray diffraction patterns were recorded using Bruker X-ray diffractometer and it as operated at 45kV and 30 mA (X-ray source: Cu Kα, Wavelength 1.54439 Å). The samples are scanned in continuous normal scan mode form 10 70°. The analysis of the peak positions and the relative intensities of the diffracted lines of synthesized Nickel ferrite were compared with XRD pattern of Kludeep chand et al: (2002) [3]. Particle size of the each sample was calculated with strongest diffraction peak (311). Counts C1 1600 400 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Position [°2Theta] Fig. 1: XRD spectrum of NiFe2O4 annealed at 550°C [1] Prasoon Pal Singh: “NiFe2O4 Nanoparticles as a Gas Sensing materials by precipitation method” ISSN 2249-6149 Vol -5 -2012. [2] Binu P Jacob, Ashok Kumar Influence of preparation method on structural and magnetic Properties of NiFe2 O4 nanoparticles” Bull. Matter Sci.- Vol 34- No 7-2011 pp. 1345-1350. [3] Sukhdeepsingh, N K Radhan, R K Kotnla & Kuldeep chand verma “Nanosize dependent electrical and magnetic properties of NiFe2O4 ferrite” Indian Journal of Pure and Applied PhysicsvVol.50, Oct 2012, pp.739-743.