Effect of Ti and Cu doping on the structural, optical, morphological and anti-bacterial properties of nickel ferrite nanoparticles

Abstract Ti-doped nickel ferrite and Cu doped nickel ferrite nanoparticles were prepared by sol-gel method. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized using XRD, SEM and UV to identify the structure, morphology and optical property. All the three samples exhibited a single-phase nickel ferrite structure at size of 31 to 23 nm. Morphology of the nickel ferrite nanoparticles remained the same even after the addition of titanium and copper but, slight variations were observed in the morphology of the samples with the addition of Ti and Cu. The FTIR analysis of the bare and doped nickel ferrite nanoparticles revealed the vibrational stretching modes M-O present at 580 cm-1 and 387 cm-1. The optical absorption of the Ti and Cu substituted nanoparticles increased which, resulted in the narrowing of band gap energy. The enhanced antibacterial activity was observed for Cu doped nickel ferrite nanoparticles. This enhancement in antibacterial activity was due to the crystallinity, morphology, band gap and the dopant. However, Ti doping in reverse inhibits the action of nickel ferrite.