Tailoring the Magnetic, Structural and Shielding Characteristics of Nano Er2O3 via Ni Doping

Abstract

We investigated the effects of Ni-doping amount on the structural, magnetic, and shielding properties of nano Er2O3. Nano Er2−xNixO3 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15) samples were fabricated by a pechini scheme and characterized via X-ray diffraction. Rietveld refinement was used to discover the distribution of cations on the two crystallographic sites. Cation ordering in the two nonequivalent sites of the structure and the variation of the oxygen bond lengths of octahedra with the composition x were also investigated. A consistent reduction in the average bond lengths of (Er/Ni)O6 octahedra around 8b and 24d as x progresses was observed. Average crystallite size reduced while average lattice micro-strain increased with increasing Ni doping. The correlation between magnetization and temperature for all samples under a magnetic field of 200 Oe was studied. Curie-Weiss law was applied to find the magnetic moments and the types of magnetic structure. The μ eff in the Er2−xNixO3 samples dropped from 9.7 to 9.36 μB as the nickel doping level rose from 0 to 0.15. Calculated magnetic moments, μ cal, were found to drop from 9.4 to 9.02 μB as the nickel doping level changed from x = 0 to x = 0.15 in Er2−xNixO3 samples. Curie paramagnetic temperature (θ) for all samples has been observed to rise from −10.6 to −19.34. The theoretical gamma-ray attenuation parameters for nano Er2−xNixO3 samples were acquired through the Phy-X/PSD software. The nano Er2−xNixO3 samples have been proven to possess remarkable magnetic and neutron shielding applications.