The Effect of Process Parameters on the Phase and Microstructure of Cu-Mn-O Mixed Metal Oxide Synthesized via Solution Combustion Synthesis

Cu-Mn mixed metal oxide nanoparticles were synthesized using the solution combustion method with using glycine as the fuel. Various ratios of fuel to oxidizer and different molar percentages of Cu and Mn cations were considered as variables in this system for investigation. Then, the effect of the aforementioned changes on the crystallization of the phases of the final product and the change in the crystallite size of the particles were evaluated. In the next step, the physical and chemical characteristics of the final products were carefully evaluated using using both X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results obtained from XRD and FE-SEM analyses, the simultaneous effect of changes in the ratio of fuel to oxidizer and the molar percentage of metal cations on the composition of phases, the morphology of the constituent particles, and the crystallite size of the particles were investigated. Also, the use of glycine fuel led to the synthesis of solid solutions of CuMn2O4 and CuMnO2 without needing furnaces or expensive equipment. By increasing the molar percentage of Mn in the fuel-to-oxidizer ratio (1), the porosity and pore size increased. Furthermore, calculations confirmed the smallest crystallite size at this fuel-to-oxidizer ratio.