One pot polyol synthesis of CuO-CuFe2O4 nanocomposites and their structural, optical and electrical property studies

• One-pot synthesis of CuO/CuFe2O4 nanocomposite had achieved in a facile polyol synthetic route.
• The crystalline parameters of the nanocomposite were tuned with annealing temperature.
• Optical and electrical properties of the nanocomposites were detailed.

CuO-CuFe2O4 nanocomposites have been successfully processed through a novel one-pot ethylene glycol based polyol reaction. The annealing temperature of the composite was found to have a significant influence on their structural characteristics. The average crystallite size was noted to vary from 16 to 35 nm on increasing the annealing temperature from 200 to 1000 °C. Their particulate nature was additionally examined using the aid of electron microscopic images. The UV–vis absorbance measurements provided substantial evidence for tuning the optical band gap of composites between 2.4 and 1.94 eV. The electrical conductivity of the composite materials was also studied to be greatly enhanced on annealing at higher temperature and was correlated to the existence of reduced grain boundaries.