In this paper, we report the experimental observations of the effects of Ni concentration on the structural and magnetic properties of NixZn1-xFe2O4 (x=0.2-0.8) ferrite nanoparticles synthesized by a chemical method via a polymer precursor. The synthesis process involves a reaction of aqueous solutions of metal salts (Fe3+, Zn2+ and Ni2+) with an aqueous poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA)-sucrose solution at 65-70oC. Controlled growth of the ferrite nanoparticles was achieved by encapsulation of the nucleating sites in the PVA-sucrose polymer micelles. Structural properties of the derived samples were analyzed with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) studies. The magnetic properties of the NixZn1-xFe2O4 (x=0.2-0.8) nanoparticles were evaluated at room temperature with a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). XRD analysis confirmed the formation of single phase cubic spinel ferrite structure. The local structural analysis of the Ni-Zn ferrite crystal system performed with XANES studies at Fe K-edge revealed the migration of Fe3+ ions from the octahedral sites to tetrahedral sites with the increase in Ni2+concentration in the ferrite structure.It was observed that the magnetization increases with the increase in Ni concentration till the maximum saturation magnetization was observed in the composition Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4. Further increase in Ni concentration reduces the magnetization. The obtained results were analyzed in correlation with the cationic distributions at the lattice sites in these ferrite nanoparticles.
Erratum to: Structural and Magnetic Properties of CoFe 2−x Gd x O4(0.0 ≤ x ≥ 0.1) Spinel Ferrite Nanoparticles Synthesized by Starch-Assisted Sol-Gel Auto-combustion Method
