Materials Research (Jan 1999)

Structure and magnetic properties of granular NiZn-ferrite - SiO2

  • Albuquerque Adriana Silva de,
  • Ardisson José Domingos,
  • Bittencourt Edison,
  • Macedo Waldemar Augusto de Almeida

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2, no. 3
pp. 235 – 238

Abstract

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Granular systems composed by nanostructured magnetic materials embedded in a non-magnetic matrix present unique physical properties that depend crucially on their nanostructure. In this work, we have studied the structural and magnetic properties of NiZn-ferrite nanoparticles embedded in SiO2, a granular system synthesized by sol-gel processing. Samples with ferrite volumetric fraction x ranging from 6% to 78% were prepared, and characterized by X-ray diffraction, Mössbauer spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometry. Our results show the formation of pure stoichiometric NiZn-ferrite in the SiO2 matrix for x < 34%. Above these fraction, our samples presented also small amounts of Fe2O3. Mössbauer spectroscopy revealed the superparamagnetic behaviour of the ferrimagnetic NiZn-ferrite nanoparticles. The combination of different ferrite concentration and heat treatments allowed the obtaintion of samples with saturation magnetization between 1.3 and 68 emu/g and coercivity ranging from 0 to 123 Oe, value which is two orders of magnitude higher than the coercivity of bulk NiZn-ferrite.

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