Investigation of structural, optical and electrical properties of Co3O4 nanoparticles.

In the current work, we report the synthesis of Cobalt oxide (Co₃O₄) NPs (NPs) by co-precipitation method. The structural analysis was confirmed by using X-ray diffractometer (XRD) which shows that the Co₃O₄ NPs have cubic phase. The average crystallite size and the lattice parameter were calculated for Co₃O₄ NPs. The functional groups of the as-synthesized sample were examined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The optical band gap of Co₃O₄ NPs was estimated by using UV diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and the Band gap was evaluated by using Tauc relation. The temperature dependence of dielectric constant and dielectric loss were studied over a range of temperature 50-300 °C. The DC electrical resistivity of Co₃O₄ NPs shows a semiconducting behaviour and the value of activation energy was calculated by using Arrhenius equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]