Structural, Morphological, Optical and Electrical Characterization of Gahnite Ferroan Nano Composite Derived from Fly Ash Silica and ZnO Mixture

Materials (Basel). 2022 Feb 14;15(4):1388. doi: 10.3390/ma15041388.

Abstract

The synthesis of a high value-added product, gahnite ferroan nano composite, from a mixture of fly ash silica and ZnO is a low-cost and non-expensive technique. The XRD pattern clearly reveals the synthesized product from fly ash after leaching is a product of high-purity gahnite ferroan composite. The grains are mostly cubical in shape. The optical band gap of powdered gahnite ferroan nano composite is 3.37 eV, which acts as a UV protector. However, the bulk sample shows that the 500 to 700 nm wavelength of visible light is absorbed, and UV light is allowed to pass through. So, the bulk sample acts as a band pass filter of UV light which can be used in many optical applications for conducting UV-irradiation activity. Dielectric permittivity and dielectric loss increase with a rise in temperature. The increase in the ac conductivity at higher temperatures denotes the negative temperature coefficient resistance (NTCR) behavior of the material.

Keywords: NTCR; ZnO; band pass filter; fly ash; gahnite ferroan.