Plant extract assisted combustion synthesis and physical characterization studies of spinel Mn-Zn aluminate nanoparticles

Abstract

Spinel Mn-Zn aluminate nano-catalyst was prepared successfully by a direct microwave heating method using corresponding metal nitrates as raw materials and Aloe vera extract used as the reducing agent. Powder XRD pattern analysis established the construction of single phase pure cubic spinel gahnite structure without any other impurities. The designed lattice parameter of the sample is 8.088 Å. The average crystallite sizes were predictable using Debye Scherrer’s method, and it was found that 15.23 nm. FT-IR spectra confirmed the metal-oxygen stretching occurrences for the corresponding spinel structure of the samples. Surface morphology was studied by HR-SEM analysis and the observed images showed the features of well particle shaped crystals with nano-sized grains.