Non-isothermal decomposition of NiC2O4-FeC2O4 mixture aiming at the production of NiFe2O4

The non-isothermal decomposition of NiC₂O₄·2H₂O-FeC₂O₄·2H₂O (1:2 mole ratio) mixture was studied on heating to the formation of NiO-Fe₂O₃ mixture at 350 °C in air atmosphere using thermogravimetry. Kinetic analysis of data according to the integral composite method showed that the oxidative decomposition of FeC₂O₄ and NiC₂O₄ are best described by the three-dimensional phase boundary model. The activation parameters were calculated and discussed. The solid products at different decomposition stages were identified using XRD, Mössbauer and FT-IR spectroscopic techniques. Some characteristic XRD lines of NiFe₂O₄ start to appear at 800 °C beside the characteristic lines of NiO and Fe₂O₃, whereas at 1000 °C, only the characteristic lines of single phase cubic NiFe₂O₄ appeared. The Mössbauer spectrum at 1000 °C fitted into two Zeeman sextets characteristic of Fe³⁺ on the tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (B) sites of NiFe₂O₄ inverse spinel. Consistent results were obtained using FT-IR where the absorption bands appeared at 602 and 407 cm⁻¹ for the mixture calcined at 1000 °C. These can be assigned to the intrinsic vibrations of tetrahedral and octahedral sites of NiFe₂O₄, respectively.