Structural, optical, electron paramagnetic, thermal and dielectric characterization of chalcopyrite

•Optical absorption spectrum is due to Fe(II)/Cu(II) which is distorted octahedral symmetry.•The EPR studies on chalcopyrite with iron and copper manganese is also present in traces.•The FTIR and FT-Raman spectra were recorded and analyzed.•TG–DTG curves at three different heating rates were carried out to find activation energies.•Both dielectric constant and dielectric loss decreases with increase in the frequency.

Chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) a variety of pyrite minerals was investigated through spectroscopic techniques and thermal analysis. The morphology and elemental analysis of the chalcopyrite have been done by high resolution SEM with EDAX. The lattice parameters were from the powder diffraction data (a = 5.3003 ± 0.0089 Å, c = 10.3679 ± 0.0289 Å; the volume of the unit cell = 291.266 Å3 with space group I42d (1 2 2)). The thermal decomposition behavior of chalcopyrite was studied by means of thermogravimetric analysis at three different heating rates 10, 15 and 20 °C/min. The values of effective activation energy (Ea), pre-exponential factor (ln A) for thermal decomposition have been measured at three different heating rates by employing Kissinger, Kim–Park and Flynn–Wall methods. Dielectric studies at different temperatures have also been carried out and it was found that both dielectric constant and dielectric loss decreases with the increase of frequency.

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