Impact of Zn addition on structural, morphological, and magnetic properties of thermally annealed Li–Zn nanoferrite

Abstract

The effect of Zn addition on cationic distribution, structural and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline Li-Zn ferrites are reported. X-ray diffraction confirms the formation of spinel nanoferrites with an average grain diameter of 34 − 82 nm. The addition of Zn results in a linear increase of lattice parameter and X-ray density. Magnetism in the studied samples is governed by the Yafet-Kittel three-sub-lattice model, shown by a non-zero canting angle. The variation in magnetic properties is correlated with the calculated cationic distribution. A new antistructural modeling explains the changes in the concentration of donor and acceptor surface active centers.

Keywords:

• Antistructural modeling
• auto-combustion
• cation distribution
• lithium-zinc ferrite
• XRD

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. M. Gupta, UGC-DAE CSR, Indore for the XRD data. SNK acknowledges gratefully for an invited professor stay (Nov. 2016), ENS Paris-Saclay, Cachan, France.

Authors’ contributions

SNK has conceptualized the work, synthesized the ferrite samples and has participated in XRD (with RV, CP, SSM), SEM (with JP), and VSM measurements (with FM). SNK (with RV, CP, and SSM) analyzed the XRD data. SNK and FM analyzed VSM data. JP and SNK analyzed SEM data. TT and SNK contributed to the preparation and proofreading of the manuscript. TT described the antistructural modeling. All the authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by Seed money grant: No. Dev/Seedmoney2.0/2020-21/649, January 20, 2022 of Devi Ahilya University, Indore (India).