Electrical, dielectric and photocatalytic applications of iron-based nanocomposites

• Published in: Applied physics. A, Materials science & processing Vol. 126; no. 3
• Main Authors: Shaheen, Kausar, Shah, Zarbad, Arshad, Tofail, Ma, Lin, Liu, Min, Wang, Yi, Cui, Jin, Ji, Yao Tang, Suo, Hongli
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-03-2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aluminum; Applied physics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Condensed Matter Physics; Copper; Dielectric loss; Electrical resistivity; Frequency ranges; Induced polarization; Iron; Machines; Manufacturing; Materials science; Nanocomposites; Nanotechnology; Nickel; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optical properties; Permittivity; Photoelectrons; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Processes; Rhodamine; Room temperature; Silver; Sol-gel processes; Spectrum analysis; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy; Degradation; Dielectric constant; Nanocomposites; AC conductivity
• ISSN: 0947-8396; 1432-0630
• DOI: 10.1007/s00339-020-3302-5

A series of iron-based nanocomposites such as Cu–Fe (CFNCs), Ni–Fe (NFNCs), Ag–Fe (SFNCs) and Al–Fe (AFNCs) were fabricated via sol–gel route. An extensive investigation about crystallinity, microstructure, electrical and optical properties was carried out by utilizing X-ray diffractometer (XRD), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The frequency-dependent AC conductivity, dielectric constant and dielectric loss were measured in the frequency range of 25 kHz–2 MHz at room temperature via an LCR meter. The highest conductivity ~ 2.85 × 10
−7
S/m was revealed by AFNCs as compared to other nanocomposites. The Maxwell–Wagner model for induced polarization and Koop’s phenomenological theory of dielectrics were followed by all the fabricated nanocomposites in the temperature range of 30–600 °C. The maximum dielectric constant ~ 930 was measured for AFNCs at a temperature of 200 °C. Furthermore, the synthesized nanocomposites effectively degraded a toxic organic dye Rhodamine B (RhB) and the degradation (%) ~ 77, 85, 86, and 87 within the time of 50, 40, 50 and 70 min was recorded for CFNCs, NFNCs, SFNCs and AFNCs, respectively.
Graphic abstract