Synthesis of Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4/MWCNT Nano- hybrid by Ultra- Sonication Assisted Method for Enhanced Dielectric Properties

Abstract

Composite Nickel- Zinc ferrites nanoparticles have been developed using co- precipitation technique with the chemical formula of Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4. A nanohybrid is achieved by coating MWCNTs with ferrites using xylene as a dispersive medium. Different loadings of the MWCNTs have been applied to see the effect of CNTs on the crystal structure and dielectric properties. The loadings applied were 0%, 1%, 2%, 3% and 5%. X-Ray Diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy techniques have been applied to ensure the structure and morphology of the nanohybrid which measure the crystal size to be in the range of 25nm to 50 nm. Dielectric measurements have been made which show dramatically increased performance at low frequency ranges due to the addition of MWCNTs. The highest values of dielectric constant achieved were 3.29x104, while the highest value of dielectric loss was 4.35x105. These values were achieved for the most loading of MWCNTs, i.e. 5% XRD patterns show no characteristic peak of MWCNTs meaning that the CNTs have been completely decorated by the ferrite nanoparticles. The SEM images further confirm this result. The method proved to be efficient for the coating ferrites using xylene as a dispersive medium and improving dielectric properties and should be further investigated using polymer matrix to further enhance the dielectric loss allowing it to be used in the application of microwave absorption.