Synthesis of CuFe2–xErxO4 nanoparticles and their magnetic, structural and dielectric properties

Abstract

Erbium-doped nanocrystalline, Cu-ferrites, chemically known as CuFe2–xErxO4 (x = 0.04, 0.08, 0.12, 0.16, 0.20) were synthesized. The effects of Er3+-doped on magnetic, structural and dielectric behaviour of CuFe2O4 were studied by XRD, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), TGA, FTIR, VSM, and dielectric analysis. The CuFe2–xErxO4 ferrites crystallize in spinel cubic structures with ex ≤ 0.12. SEM data demonstrated that their spherical morphology and crystalline size was <50 nm. The XRD spectra of all the prepared samples exhibited peaks of single-phase spinel ferrites. The lattice parameter (A) was amplified with the ascent of Er3+ concentration in the latticework. The FTIR patterns of the synthesized ferrites described the asymmetric stretching mode of spinel transition AB2O4. SEM photography confirms that the particle size had developed up to 500 nm after doping of Er3+. The maximum saturation magnetization (Ms ~ 38.01 emug−1) was observed for CuFe2O4. It was found that the decreasing in temperature leads to the great enhancement in the magnetic properties of the examined samples. As the magnetic recording performance of the magnetic samples is enhanced for well-crystallized samples with nano-structural, the effect of Er3+ substitution appears to be particularly valuable in this respect.