Synthesis, characterization, and magnetic properties of nanosized Zn_0.5Co_0.5Er_xFe_2-xO₄ prepared by coprecipitation method

Authors: ZOUHEIR BITAR, DOAA EL-SAID BAKEER, RAMADAN AWAD

Abstract: In the present work, the effect of doping zinc cobalt ferrite by different concentrations of Er3+ on structural, optical, and magnetic properties was studied. Nanosized Zn_0.5Co_0.5Er_xFe_2-xO₄ (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.2) was synthesized by the coprecipitation method. XRD analysis confirmed the formation of one phase face FCC spinel structure belonging to the Fd3m space group. TEM exhibited that the particle size decreased with the increase of Er³⁺ content, which is in agreement with XRD results. Two significant absorption bands from FTIR spectra were observed between 400 and 600 cm^-1. The band gap energy value obtained from UV-Vis increased with the increasing concentration of Er³⁺. The decrease of g-value is well correlated with the variation of particle size. All the VSM spectra reveal superparamagnetic behavior. The saturation magnetization decreases continuously while coercivity decreases abruptly with the increase of Er³⁺ content. The results of this work show the possibility that zinc cobalt ferrite doped by erbium can be useful for magnetic resonance imaging as a biomedicine application.

Keywords: Rare earth, coprecipitation, structural properties, magnetic properties, spinel nanoparticles

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