Influence of cerium doping on the magnetic properties of a nanometric cobalt-zinc mixed ferrite

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of cerium doping on the magnetic properties of nanometric-sized particles of a cobalt-zinc mixed ferrite with stoichiometric formula Co0.6Zn0.4Fe2O4. The effect of cerium doping was studied by producing a ferrite with the stoichiometric formula Co0.6Zn0.4Fe1.95Ce0.05O4 and comparing its magnetic properties with those of undoped cobalt-zinc ferrite and other ferrites. The samples were synthesized by sol-gel combustion and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating-sample magnetometry (VSM) and ferromagnetic resonance (FMR). The XRD results confirm the synthesis of ferrite, the VSM results show that the saturation magnetization decreases with cerium doping and the FMR results show that the magnetocrystalline anisotropy decreases with cerium doping. Comparison with other ferrites suggests that doping with 5% cerium does not significantly decrease the microwave absorption of cobalt-zinc ferrite while protecting healthy cells in hyperthermy.