Preparations, optical, structural, conductive and magnetic evaluations of RE's (Pr, Y, Gd, Ho, Yb) doped spinel nanoferrites

Abstract

Rare earths RE's (Pr, Y, Gd, Ho, Yb) substituted MnZn spinel ferrites with composition of Mn0.5Zn0.5M0.02Fe1.98O4 (M = Pr, Y, Gd, Ho, Yb) are prepared by sol gel combustion approach. Low sintering temperature (500 °C) is used to sinter the RE's doped MnZn samples. MnZn samples are further characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) to measure the cubic crystalline structure, particle size, morphology, porosity and grain size. Cubic crystalline phase of prepared RE's doped MnZn ferrites is confirmed by x-ray diffraction (XRD). The morphology, porosity and grain size are observed using FESEM. The magnetic properties of RE's doped MnZn nanoferrites are analyzed by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Coercivity (Hc), remanence (Mr) and saturation magnetization (Ms) are calculated from the magnetic loops. The saturation and remanence of the nanoferrites are increased by the substitution of RE's metal ions and varies from 14.76 to 26.36 emu/g and 9.98–22.48 emu/g respectively. Bohr magneton and anisotropy constant are calculated from the recorded magnetic data. The conductive analysis of the prepared samples is studied at 40 °C −300 °C temperature, leading to the conductivity measurements from 1.12 × 10-2 Ω-1-cm-1 to 9.52 × 10-2 Ω-1-cm-1. UV–Vis spectroscopy is used to determine the semi conducting nature of RE's doped MnZn spinel ferrite samples. The magnetic, conductive and optical study of the RE's doped MnZn nanoferrites sintered at low temperature suggests the use of these materials for microwave absorption, supercapacitor, lithium ion batteries and nanoelectronics industrial applications.