Physical, structural, conductive and magneto-optical properties of rare earths (Yb, Gd) doped Ni–Zn spinel nanoferrites for data and energy storage devices

Abstract

In this study, an attempt has been made using different concentrations of rare-earth (RE) elements Yb, Gd in Ni–Zn spinel ferrite to examine the magneto-optical and electrical conductivity analysis of the prepared samples. RE doped Ni–Zn ferrite with composition Ni0.5Zn0.5YbxGdxFe2-xO4 (where, x = 0.00, 0.20, 0.40, 0. 60, 0.80 and 1.00) were prepared by one step sol-gel self-ignition approach. XRD and FESEM were used to examine the formation of a single-phase and variations in the grain size with the increasing contents of RE elements in Ni–Zn ferrite NPs. FTIR confirmed the vibrational studies of the RE doped spinel ferrite. The saturation magnetization, remanence, and coercivity elucidated the magnetic nature of the prepared samples. The decreasing trend was observed in the magnetization which may be due to the doping of RE elements at the B sites. UV–Vis spectroscopy verified the semiconducting nature of the synthesized samples which was because of the emergence of optical band gap in the semiconductor region (2.04 eV–2.28 eV). The temperature-dependent electrical conductivity (σDC) was also studied to investigate the conduction mechanism over the 323 K–563 K temperature range. Yb and Gd doped NiZn ferrite is a good candidate for the nanoantennas, quantum information, sensing, isolators, modulators, data storage applications and energy storage devices because of their excellent magneto-optical and electrical properties.