Physical and Optical Properties of Nanocrystalline Calcium Ferrite Synthesized by the Polymerized Complex Method

Nanocrystalline CaFe₂O₄ oxide semiconductor with spinel structure was synthesized by polymerized complex (PC) method and investigated for its physical and optical properties. The crystallization of CaFe₂O₄ made by PC method was found to occur in the temperature range of 700–1100 °C. The observation of highly pure phase and such lower crystallization tempearture in CaFe₂O₄ made by PC method, is in total contrast to that observed in CaFe₂O₄ prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction (SSR) method. The activation energy required for the growth of nanocrystalline CaFe₂O₄ in PC sample was found to be 8.4 kJ/mol. The band gap of nanocrystalline CaFe₂O₄ determined by UV-DRS was 1.91 eV (647 nm). The photocatalytic activity of PC materials for iso-propyl alcohol photodegradation under visible light (≥420 nm) was much higher than that of SSR materials.