Size dependent strain analysis of CaFe2O4 nano ceramics

CaFe2O4 nano ceramics are successfully prepared by green synthesis technique and the obtained nano-sized powder is annealed at 850° C for 6h. The annealed powder is examined by x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement at room temperature, which confirms that the diffraction peaks of the annealed CaFe2O4 are well crystalline and correspond to post-spinel orthorhombic structure with space group Pnma. Small amount of secondary phase corresponding to CaCO3 has also been observed. Crystallite size and the strain are estimated by Debye Scherrer [46.81 nm, 2.46×10-3], Modified Debye Scherrer [50.82 nm, 2.42×10-3] and Williamson–Hall plot [81.56 nm, 1.23×10-3] respectively. The change in crystallite size and strain seems to be due to the dislocation and anisotropic nature of CaFe2O4 nano ceramics. This indicates that estimation of crystallite size using least squares technique provides more accurate results that can be applied to minimize sources of errors.