On the correlation between mechanical, optical, and magnetic properties of co-substituted Sn1-x-yZnxMyOz metal-oxide ceramics with M = Fe, Co, Ni, and Mn

Abstract

We report here the FTIR, optical, and magnetic properties of Sn1-x-yZnxMyOz ceramics with various x, y, and M. The pure samples are called S1, S2, and S3 for ZnO, SnO2, and SnZn. The co-substituted samples are called S4, S5, S6, and S7 for SnZnFe, SnZnCo, SnZnNi, and SnZnMn, with Zn = 0.50, Sn = 0.25, and M = 0.25. The Young's modulus, was decreased from 5.70 (D/cm2) for S3 to 4.59, 3.14, 2.59, and 3.05 (D/cm2) for S4, S5, S6, and S7. The Eg was decreased from 2.13 eV for S3 to 2.16, 2,2, and 1.6 eV for S4, S5, S6, and S7. The pure samples (S1–S3) exhibit ferromagnetic behavior at 300 K, and combination of paramagnetic and ferromagnetic behaviors at 10K. In contrast, the samples (S4–S7) exhibit a combination of paramagnetic and ferromagnetic behaviours at both temperatures. The Curie temperature (Tc) obtained through zero-field cooling (ZFC) and field cooling (FC) is close to 300 K for S1–S3, S5, S6, 200 K for S4, and 20 K for S7. The real saturated magnetization (Ms) of the ZnO sample was decreased by the addition of SnO2, and then increased by the addition of Mn, Ni, Fe, and Co sequentially. Ms was increased from 12.31 (emu/g) for S3 at 300 to 16.24, 31.04, 27.27, and 10.49 (emu/g) for S4, S5, S6, and S7, and from 16 (emu/g) to 87, 730, 83, and 29 at 10 K. Remnant magnetization (Mr) decreases with the addition of SnO2 to ZnO and is not affected by the addition of TMs, just in the case of Co, where it increases. The coercive field decreases, but the switching field increases markedly with the addition of Mn and Ni, transforming the system from a hard magnetization to a soft magnetization system.