Crystallite size estimation of elemental and composite silver nano-powders using XRD principles

Studies on nanocrystalline materials require an accurate determination of crystallite size as well as the microstrains induced in the material. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are the two well-known techniques for this purpose. Based on XRD principles, numerous approaches such as use of Scherrer equation, integral breath analysis, single-line approximation, Hall-Williamson method, etc have been developed for estimation of crystallite size. Present work deals with a systematic application of Hall-Williamson method for crystallite size estimation of high-energy milled elemental silver and silver-metal oxide (AgMeO) type composite powders and its comparison with Scherrer equation that does not take into account the peak broadening due to strain. The effect of second phase particles on the crystallite size of silver matrix in AgMeO composite is also investigated.