Morphological and Crystallographic Characterization of Nanoparticles by Granulometry Image Analysis and Rietveld Refinement Methods

Abstract

The particle size distribution of the resultant cobalt ferrite samples was determined from Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images using the granulometry image analysis method. Results showed the nanosized particles of the samples. The X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) patterns of samples were also analyzed by Rietveld refinement method. The results indicated that the precipitated sample at 95 oC had cubic cobalt ferrite structure with F3dm:3 space group and high crystallinity. The lattice parameters, microstrain and crystallite size of samples were also calculated from the XRD pattern. With increasing the precipitation temperature, the crystallite and particle sizes were increased while the lattice parameter and microstrain were decreased. Regarding the results, it can be concluded that the lattice parameter of cobalt ferrite has a diverse relationship with crystallite size.

Keywords

• local thresholding algorithm
• x-ray diffraction
• image processing
• particle size distribution