Structural, electrical and magnetic parameters evaluation of nanocrystalline rare earth Nd3+-substituted nickel-zinc spinel ferrite particles

Abstract

Magnetic nanomaterials have been extensively studied due to their numerous applications in almost all types of electronics as well as in biomedical fields. In this work, Ni0.65Zn0.35NdxFe2-xO4 nanoparticles (0.00 ≤ x ≥ 0.075) have been prepared by co-precipitation method. The structural and electromagnetic properties were tuned by doping of rare earth. The prepared nano-ferrites were annealed in furnace for 5 h at 800 °C. The structural, spectral, magnetic and electrical behavior of Ni0.65Zn0.35NdxFe2-xO4 nanoparticles was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometery (VSM) and current voltage measurement (I-V) measurements. The objective of this work is to study the variation of magnetic and electric properties as a function of concentration of dopant i.e. rare earth Nd3+ cations. Formation of single phase in all prepared sample except x = 0.075 was confirmed by XRD analysis and estimated crystallite size was 14–26 nm. The lattice parameter, electric properties and magnetic parameters showed non-linear behavior with the doping of Nd+3. Intrinsic metal ion vibrations of spinel ferrites were explained by FTIR spectra recorded in the range of 400–2000 nm. Influence of Nd+3 contents on structural, magnetic, and electrical parameters has been discussed in detail.