Volume 5, Issue 4, April – 2020 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology ISSN No:-2456-2165 IJISRT20APR854 www.ijisrt.com 854 Study on Structural, Morphological and Optical Characterization of Lithium Tetraborate Nanoparticles by High Energy Ball Milling Neetu Rathore 1, 2, a , Asita Kulshreshtha 1 , Rajesh Kumar Shukla 2 1 Amity School of Applied Sciences, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow Campus, Lucknow (India) 2 Department of Physics, University of Lucknow, Lucknow- Uttar Pradesh (India) Abstract:- Lithium tetraborate has attracted much attention as a potential radiation-proof material for an optical device. it is used as a tissue-equivalent material for radiation dosimetry. In the present investigation, we report the preparation of lithium tetraborate (LTB) nanoparticles by a solid -state method with high energy ball-milling along with different parameter. Different milling parameter was optimized to acquire essential particle sizes. The crystalline size obtained from XRD data is found within the range of 31-35 nm. The morphological study was carried out using Scanning electron microscope. The structural properties of Lithium tetraborate was studied by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy. Keywords:- Nanostructured Materials; High Energy Ball Milling Methods; XRD; FTIR; SEM. I. INTRODUCTION One of the reasons behind the interest of Lithium tetraborate (Li2B4O7, LTB) is that it resembles the biological tissues and can be used as a tissue-equivalent material. It is used for thermoluminescent radiation dosimeters for evaluation of absorbed dose in tissues 1 . LTB has an effective atomic number which is equivalent to soft biological tissue (Zeff = 7.42) 2,3 . LTB belongs to tetragonal crystal system and its polar point group symmetry is 4mm. Lithium tetraborate powder is most suitable for thermoluminescence dosimetry purpose and LTB has easy annealing procedures, high sensitivity, low fading and linear dose-response 4 . The Lithium and Boron both have large neutron capturing capacity 2 . Lithium tetraborate shows piezoelectric and pyroelectric behaviour due to the peculiar crystallization system it has 5 . Transmission range of lithium tetraborate is 165-6000 nm 6 . LTB has several favourable properties, including linear and non-linear optical properties, luminescence, high radiation resistive, wide operation dose range. Another possible scope of lithium tetraborate material is to study the neutron capture characteristics of pure and doped LTB nanoparticles in the form of discs and as dispersed in a suitable matrix. It is reported in the literature that LTB has the potential for use in neutron dosimetry device 6 . LTB also exhibits interesting NLO properties 2 . Therefore, it is suggested that the NLO properties (for example, SHG efficiency) of nanoparticles in disc form and dispersed matrix form should be studied and compared with their single crystal counterpart. In this paper, we report the preparation of LTB nanoparticles by high energy ball milling method. The milling parameter was optimized for obtaining the desired phase and particle size. Nanoparticles were characterized for structural, size, crystallinity and phase using XRD, FTIR, SEM techniques. II. CHARACTERIZATION The structural analysis of Lithium tetraborate nanoparticles was done by an X-Ray Diffractometer (Model- Ultima IV model from Rigaku, Japan) with CuKα radiation (λ=0.15406nm). Fourier transmission infrared spectra of the nanoparticles were recorded in the range of 4000 to 400 cm -1 (Model-Nicolet TM 6700 Thermo scientific USA). The morphological studies were done by scanning electron microscope (Model-JSM 6490LV, Joel, Japan). III. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD A. Synthesis of Lithium tetraborate by high-temperature solid-state reaction  Material synthesis: For chemical preparation, Stoichiometric ratio of Li2B4O7, i.e. Li2CO3: 2B2O3 in 1:2 ratio are taken. The amount of reactant Li2CO3 and B2O3 required for the desired amount of Li2B2O7 was taken considering the platinum crucible size, which is to be used. Therefore to compute the mass of reactants required for this amount of charge. Li2CO3 + 2B2O3 = Li2B4O7 + CO2 The material was taken for 190gm Li 2B4O7. The materials were properly mixed and heated at 350 °C for 4 hrs then again mixing in an agate mortar. In the second step, the process was repeated and the material was heated at 750°C for 7 hrs then again mixing to get proper material for ball milling. This reacted powder was then kept inside the bowl for ball milling. the milling was done for different rpm and different time.