Structural rietveld refinement, morphological and magnetic features of Cu doped Co[sbnd]Ce nanocrystalline ferrites for high frequency applications

Abstract

Copper (Cu) substituted CoCe nanoferrites with nominal composition of Co1-xCux Ce0.05Fe1.95O4 (x = 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00) were prepared by sol-gel route. The sintering of the Cu doped CoCe nanoferrites was done at 700 °C to investigate the desired properties of the Cu doped CoCe nanoferrites. The combination of transition metal (Cu) and rare earth (Ce) were employed to tailor the characteristics of the spinel ferrites. The constant ratio of rare earth and systematic doping of Cu in Co ferrite was incorporated to see the effects of these ions in spinel ferrite. FTIR, FESEM, XRD and VSM were used to study the vibrational bands, phase, morphology, structure and magnetic properties of the Cu doped CoCe spinel nanocrystalline ferrites respectively. Average crystallite size, volume, strain and lattice parameters were evaluated from XRD. Bulk, X-ray density, and porosity were increased with Cu doping in CoCe spinel ferrites. Rietveld refinement of the Cu doped CoCe nanoferrites was done using MAUD software. Site radii, shared and unshared edges, bond lengths due to the Cu substitution were also study by Bertaut technique. FTIR studies were done to find out the force constants and absorption bands at tetrahedral and octahedral sites. Magnetic loops were recorded from VSM and magnetic properties such as remanent magnetization, coercivity, saturation, magnetic anisotropy constant (K), initial permeability and Bohr magnetic moments were determined. Saturation, remanence, coercivity, Bohr magnetic moment and anisotropy constant of the Cu doped CoCe nanoferrites were decreased. However, Yafet-Kittel (YK) angles were found to be enhanced with Cu doped CoCe nanoferrites. High frequency response of the Cu doped spinel nanoferrites in microwave region was also evaluated using the saturation data of the samples. All the Cu doped CoCe nanoferrites samples are suggested to be used in microwave for X-band regime.