Enhanced Magnetic and Microwave Absorbing Properties of Nd3+ Ion Doped CoFe2O4 by Solid‐State Reaction Method

Abstract

CoNdxFe(2−x)O4 (x = 0.0–0.05) spinel ferrites are successfully synthesized by mechanical milling using solid‐state reaction. The effects of Nd3+ ions on structural, microstructure, and magnetic and microwave‐absorbing properties of samples are analyzed. The X‐ray diffraction pattern shows a single‐phase cobalt ferrite for all compositions. Refinement of the structure shows that an increase in the concentration of Nd3+ ions leads to the structure parameter and volume of unit cell to decrease. Lattice strain arises in the crystal, and limiting the crystallite growth is confirmed from the Williamson–Hall analysis. The particle size of the doping samples decreases compared to that without doping. The magnetic parameters, namely coercivity field and saturation magnetization, are strongly affected by the insertion of Nd3+ ions. Another important role of Nd3+ ions is in tuning the performance of microwave absorption. The maximum reflection loss values are gradually increased from −12.65 dB (≈94.35% microwave attenuation) up to −28.57 dB (≈99.86% microwave attenuation) in the concentration of x = 0.0–0.05. Their effective bandwidth also shows an increase from 0.05 up to 1 GHz. The results exhibit that Nd3+ ion‐doped cobalt ferrite has potential properties in designing novel microwave‐absorbing materials.