Structural, Magnetic, and Optical Properties of Zinc- and Copper-Substituted Nickel Ferrite Nanocrystals

By F. Shahbaz Tehrani, V. Daadmehr, Ali T. Rezakhani, R. Hosseini Akbarnejad, Somayeh Gholipour. Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism, 2012

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Ferrite nanocrystals are an interesting material due to their rich physical properties. Here we add non-magnetic dopants Zn and Cu to nickel ferrite nanocrystals, Ni1−xMxFe2O4 (0≤x≤1, M=Cu, Zn), and study how relevant properties of the samples are modified accordingly. Basically, these dopings cause a rearrangement of Fe+3 ions into the two preexisting octahedral and tetrahedral sites. In fact, this, we show, induces pertinent magnetic properties of the doped samples. In the case of the Cu-doping, the Jahn–Teller effect also emerges, which we identify through the Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy of the samples. Moreover, we show an increase in the lattice parameters of the doped samples, as well a superparamagnetic behavior for the doped samples is shown, while the Jahn–Teller effect precludes a similar behavior in the CuFe2O4 nanocrystals. The influences of Zn and Cu substitutions are investigated on the optical properties of nickel ferrite nanocrystals by photoluminescence measurement at room temperature.

Subfields: Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Materials Chemistry

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/49ff5eb393d7eecd8e3b3f4f295c0197374a48a5