Structural and thermal characterization of NixZn1−xAl2O4 synthesized by the polymeric precursor method

Oxides with NixZn1−xAl2O4 spinel structures (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15 and 1.0) have been synthesized by a simple polymeric precursor method. The samples were calcined at 600, 800 and 1000 °C for 2 h. The thermal decomposition of materials has been investigated by TG and DTA. X-ray diffractogram showed that the synthesis is efficient to produce spinel structures with no significant interfering phases. Materials characterization also revealed that these oxides had surface areas (BET) in the range of 8–156 m2 g−1. The absorption bands in the infrared spectroscopy (IR) were related to (ZnO4) and [AlO6] stretching vibration, and the UV–Vis spectrograms indicated the presence of Ni2+ in tetrahedral sites. The colorimetric analysis (CIELab) results showed that the color of the pigments is blue and becomes lighter with increasing synthesis temperature. All these structural and thermal properties indicated that the materials have potential applications as pigments, catalysts and so on.