Effect of Gadolinium Content on Magnetic and Structural Characteristics of NFGO Nano-Particles

Abstract

Sol gel auto-combustion was used to create gadolinium doped nickel ferrite nano-particles, which have chemical composition NiFe2‑xGdxO4 (x = 0.00, 0.010, 0.15, 0.20 & 0.25). The investigation focused on how the composition of Gd+3 affected the magnetic properties and structural parameters. Magnetic properties were investigated using VSM technique, structural properties were determined using XRD and SEM techniques. XRD graphs verified the establishment of the spinel ferrite phase. With an increase in Gd composition, the crystallite size and lattice parameter increased from 21.0288 to 27.04125 nm and 8.3325 to 8.3367Å, respectively. It was also evident how the composition of Gd+3 affected the estimation of bond-angles and lengths in tetrahedral and octahedral structures. SEM micrographs showed that all of the grains had a small amount of agglomeration and that all of the synthesized compositions were homogenous. The range of 140.5–176.2 nm was found to be the average grain size. Using VSM at 300K, magnetic parameters like coercivity, residual magnetization, and saturation magnetization were computed. Until the composition was 0.20, the saturation magnetization and residual magnetization dropped from 30.28 emu/g to 15.35 emu/g and 5.07 emu/g to 3.65 emu/g, respectively. After that, they increased to 34.40 emu/g and 6.52 emu/g, respectively. Until composition 0.20, coercivity was raised from 154 to 261 Oe; after that, it was lowered to 233 Oe.