LOW TEMPERATURE SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF LANIO3 NANOPARTICLES

The synthesis, structure and characterization of LaNiO3 nanoparticles were studied using a simple sol-gel combustion method. The overall process involves three steps – formation of homogenous solution, formation of dried gel and final combustion of the dried gel. On ignition in air, the compound is found to transform into nanosized LaNiO3 nanoparticles. The analysis of X-ray diffraction (XRD) data confirmed the orthorhombic LaNiO3 perovskite of space group R c without any impurity phase. The Scherrer's formula was employed to estimate the crystallite size of the prepared sample. For a further insight into the crystal structure, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging was done. The estimated values of the crystallite size from Scherrer's formula and SEM were found to be roughly the same. The SEM images confirmed the polycrystalline nature of the prepared sample. Furthermore, UV measurements were performed on the compound to estimate its band gap energy. The values were found to match well with those reported elsewhere in literature.EDX measurements performed on the sample confirmed the existence of La, Ni and O elements.