Synthesis, Structural and Magnetic Properties of Copper Substituted Nickel Ferrites by Sol-Gel Method

Gopathi Ravi Kumar, Katrapally Vijaya Kumar, Yarram Chetty Venudhar

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DOI: 10.4236/msa.2012.32013                

Abstract

The Ni_1–xCu_xFe₂O₄ (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1.0) ferrites have been prepared by sol-gel method in order to obtain homogeneous crystal structure and they are sintered at high temperature. The effect of copper doping on the structural and magnetic properties of nickel ferrites sintered at 1000°C has been examined. The X-ray diffraction measurements clearly showed the formation of single phase spinel ferrite structure in all the prepared ferrite compositions. Because of the high sintering temperature the particle size is observed beyond the nano-scale range in all the compositions. The lattice parameters are found to increase with increasing doping concentration of the copper content. Magnetization results exhibit a non-collinear ferrimagnetic structure for x = 0.0 to 0.5 and Neel’s collinear ferrimagnetic structure for x = 0.5 to 0.9 suggesting a change in magnetic ordering.

Keywords

Ferrite; High Sintering Temperature; X-Ray Diffractograms; Spinel Structure; SEM; Magnetic Properties

1. Introduction

Ferrites are technologically essential materials that are used in the fabrication of magnetic, electronic and microwave devices. They have gained technological importance by virtue of their high resistivity and negligible eddy current losses [1,2]. Nickel and copper substituted nickel ferrites are the important class of spinel ferrites [3]. According to crystal structure, nickel ferrite is an inverse spinel ferrite and possesses high electrical resistivity and low eddy current losses. The substitution of copper in nickel ferrite modifies the properties of nickel ferrite which are useful in many device applications. Nickel-copper ferrites play significant role among magnetic materials due to their high electrical resistivity, high saturation magnetization and high magnetic permeability [4,5]. The structural and magnetic properties of spinel ferrites depend on the magnetic interaction and cation distribution in the two sub-lattices i.e. tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (B) lattice sites. Ni-Cu ferrites have appealing electrical and magnetic properties, as copper ferrite is one of the most interesting spinel ferrite among all the ferrites. It undergoes a structural phase transition accompanied by a reduction in the crystal symmetry to tetragonal [6].

It has been reported by several research groups that, the magnetization in Ni-Cu ferrites decreases with increasing Cu content and vice-versa [7-14]. The Cu content was found to have a significant influence on the electromagnetic properties. Therefore it would be meaningful to investigate the structural and magnetic properties of Ni-Cu ferrites. Thus, in this paper, we present the systematic investigations of Cu substituted nickel ferrites.

2. Experimental Procedure

Ni-Cu ferrites with a generic formula Ni_1–xCu_xFe₂O₄ (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) were synthesized by sol-gel method [15]. All of the chemicals were analytical grade with purity ≥99% and were used. In a typical procedure, the nickel nitrate hydrate Ni (NO₃)₂·6H₂O, cupric nitrate hydrate Cu(NO₃)₂·6H₂O, ferric nitrate nonahydrate Fe(NO₃)₃·9H₂O were used as starting materials. The synthesis process is described elsewhere [15]. The final powder samples obtained were sintered at 1000˚C for 24 h.

Structural characterization of the ferrite powders was carried out on Panalytical Expert Diffractometer (XRD), PW 3040/60 Philips with CuKα radiation (wavelength, λ = 1.54 Å). The scanning electron micrographs of all the samples were taken on JEOL JSM 6360 SEM machine. Magnetization measurements were performed using the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM).

3. Results and Discussions

Figure 1 shows the XRD patterns of Ni_1–xCu_xFe₂O₄ (0 ≤

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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