Influence of neodymium substitution on structural, magnetic and spectroscopic properties of Ni–Zn–Al nano-ferrites

Abstract

Ni_0.6Zn_0.4Al_0.5Fe_1.5-<i>x</i> Nd _<i>x</i> O₄ ferrite samples, with <i>x</i> = 0.00, 0.05, 0.075 and 0.1, were synthesized using the sol-gel method. The effects of Nd³⁺ doping on the structural, magnetic and spectroscopic properties were investigated. XRD Rietveld refinement carried out using the FULLPROF program shows that the Ni-Zn ferrite retains its pure single phase cubic structure with <i>Fd</i>3̄<i>m</i> space group. An increase in lattice constant and porosity happens with increasing Nd³⁺ concentration. FTIR spectra present the two prominent absorption bands in the range of 400 to 600 cm^-1 which are the fingerprint region of all ferrites. The change in Raman modes in the synthesized ferrite system were observed with Nd³⁺ substitution. The magnetization curves show a typical transition, at the Curie temperature <i>T</i> _C, from a low temperature ferrimagnetic state to a high temperature paramagnetic state. The saturation magnetization, coercivity and remanence magnetization are found to be decreasing with increasing the Nd³⁺ concentration.