Influence of La3+ Substitution on Structure, Morphology and Magnetic Properties of Nanocrystalline Ni-Zn Ferrite.

Y K Dasan,B H Guan,L K Chuan,M H Zahari,Subash C B Gopinath

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0170075

Abstract

Lanthanum substituted Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticles (Ni0.5Zn0.5LaxFe1-xO4; 0.00 ≤x≤ 1.00) synthesized by sol-gel method were presented. X-ray diffraction patterns reveal the typical single phase spinel cubic ferrite structure, with the traces of secondary phase for lanthanum substituted nanocrystals. In addition, the structural analysis also demonstrates that the average crystallite size varied in the range of 21–25 nm. FTIR spectra present the two prominent absorption bands in the range of 400 to 600 cm-1 which are the fingerprint region of all ferrites. Surface morphology of both substituted and unsubstituted Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticle samples was studied using FESEM technique and it indicates a significant increase in the size of spherical shaped particles with La3+ substitution. Magnetic properties of all samples were analyzed using vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The results revealed that saturation magnetization (Ms) and coercivity (Hc) of La3+ substituted samples has decreased as compared to the Ni-Zn ferrite samples. Hence, the observed results affirm that the lanthanum ion substitution has greatly influenced the structural, morphology and magnetic properties of Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticles.

Highlights

Ferrite materials of spinel structural formula AB2O4 are mainly composed of about 70% iron oxide (Fe2O3) and about 30% of other metal oxides including MgO, MnO, NiO, CuO, and or FeO [1, 2]
A Ni0.5Zn0.5LaxFe1-xO4, (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6) nanocrystals was synthesized through a simple sol-gel method
The observed diffraction peaks could be assigned to the reflection plane of (111), (220), (311), (400), (422), (511) and (440) which could be indexed to a single-phase Ni-Zn ferrite nanocrystal (α-phase)

Summary

Introduction

Ferrite materials of spinel structural formula AB2O4 are mainly composed of about 70% iron oxide (Fe2O3) and about 30% of other metal oxides including MgO, MnO, NiO, CuO, and or FeO [1, 2]. Properties of La3+ Substituted Ni-Zn Ferrite Nanoparticles bulk material possesses normal spinel structure with their divalent and trivalent cations are located on the tetrahedral and octahedral sites respectively. The substitution of these rare earth ions into spinel ferrites could alter the electrical and magnetic properties.

Results

Conclusion