Room temperature synthesis and spectral characterizations of Fe3+-doped CdO powder

Abstract

Fe3+ doped CdO powder was prepared at room temperature using a mild and simple solution method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that the prepared material has cubic structure. The average crystalline size evaluated using the Debye-Scherrer method is 24 nm. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images show the surface morphology of nano-crystalline CdO powder, and the Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) spectrum indicates the presence of a transition metal ion. The optical absorption spectrum shows characteristic bands for Fe3+ with octahedral site symmetry. The crystal field parameter (Dq) and the Racah inter-electronic repulsion parameters (B and C) were evaluated. The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrum shows a resonance signal at g=2.0128, which indicates Fe3+ ions in tetragonally-distorted octahedral site symmetry. This is also confirmed using the optical absorption spectrum. FT-IR shows the fundamental vibrations of the host lattice.