Effect of chromium ions on the structural, magnetic, and optical properties of manganese–zinc ferrite nanoparticles

Abstract

The present work describes the synthesis of Mn0.5Zn0.5CrxFe2−xO4 (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3) ferrite nanoparticles by solution combustion method and their detailed structural, electrical, magnetic, and optical characterizations. X-ray pattern represents the creation of a single spinel structure. In addition to this, the distribution of cations is also approximated from X-ray study which is then authenticated by the magnetization technique also. The crystalline size (23–21 nm) and lattice parameter (8.39–8.30 A) are found to shrink with the rise in chromium ions. A decrease in saturation magnetization (0.80–0.64 emu/g) and remanent magnetization (0.05–0.03 emu/g) is found with the rise in chromium ions, while the coercivity is found to increase (83–123 Oe) through the adding of chromium ions. FTIR predicted the two absorption bands (ν1 and ν2) near 600 and 400 cm−1. Dielectric constant and loss tangent were observed to decrease with an increase in frequency, whereas AC conductivity attains a nearly constant value at a lower frequency and observed to increase at higher frequencies with the addition of dopant.