Structural analysis and normalised susceptibility study of Zn substituted Li-Cu Ferrite

Abstract

Lithium ferrites have attracted considerable attention because they have been used as replacements for garnets due to their low cost. A series of polycrystalline ferrite samples with the composition of LixZn0.6-2xCu0.4Fe2O4 (x = 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, 0.3) at different chemical reaction temperature (100℃, 125℃ and 150℃) were prepared using non-conventional microwave sintering method. The characterization was carried out using X-rays technique. The X-ray analysis confirms the formation of single phase cubic structure. The lattice parameter ranges from 8.3690 Å to 8.4653 Å . The X-ray density shows the variation as a function of temperature of synthesis. The variation of AC susceptibility with temperature shows the existence of single domain structure for x ≥ 0.2 when the chemical reaction carried at 125℃ and 150℃ and exhibits super paramagnetic structure for all the composition prepared at 100℃. The samples x ≤ 0.2 shows multidomain structure for all the samples prepared at 125℃ and 150℃. The Curie temperature obtained using the susceptibility data are found to be in the range 350℃ to 700℃. An attempt has been made to synthesis the nanoparticles at lower reaction temperature by using non-conventional microwave sintering method.