Combustion synthesis of Ca1−xCuxAl2O4 (x = 0.0, 0.4 and 0.8) copper doped calcium aluminate

We report the effect of Cu2+ ion on CaAl2O4 with different molar concentrations of 0.0, 0.4 and 0.8 M prepared by simple combustion method. The materials have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). DC electrical conductivity has also been measured to study the electrical behavior of the materials. The XRD patterns confirm the formation of single-phase CaAl2O4 along with some impurity phases like CaAl4O7, CaAl12O19 and Ca12Al14O33. The FT-IR spectra show the stretching and bending vibrations of the synthesized compounds. DC electrical conductivity of the Ca1−xCuxAl2O4 is found to vary from 26.46 × 10−4 to 515.68 × 10−4 S cm−1 for x = 0.0 to x = 0.8 at the measuring temperature of 1000 °C. SEM images show the morphological features of the compounds.