Magnetoelectric characterization of xNi0.75Co0.25Fe2O4-(1−x)BiFeO3 nanocomposites

Magnetoelectric (ME) nanocomposites containing Ni_0.75Co_0.25Fe₂O₄-BiFeO₃ phases were prepared by citrate sol-gel process. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed phase formation of xNi_0.75Co_0.25Fe₂O₄-(1−x)BiFeO₃ (x=0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4) composites on heating at 700 °C. Transmission electron microscopy revealed the formation of powders of nano order size and the crystal size was found to vary from 30 to 85 nm. Dispersion in dielectric constant (ε) and dielectric loss (tan δ) in the low-frequency range have been observed. It is seen that nanocomposites exhibit strong magnetic properties and a large ME effect. On increasing Ni_0.75Co_0.25Fe₂O₄ contents in the nanocomposites, the saturation magnetization (M_S) and coercivity (H_C) increased after annealing at 700 °C. The large ME output in the nanocomposites exhibits strong dependence on magnetic bias and magnetic field frequency. The large value of ME output can be attributed to small grain size of ferrite phase of nanocomposite being prepared by citrate precursor process.     

Phase formation, grain growth and magnetic properties of NiCuZn ferrites

We studied the effects of iron-deficient, stoichiometric and iron-excessive compositions on the phase formation, crystal structure, grain growth and magnetic property of NiCuZn ferrites. As the Fe₂O₃ ratio increased from iron-deficiency 47.0 mol% to iron-excess 54.0 mol%, the X-ray diffraction peaks initially shifted towards lower angle and then moved to higher angle. Correspondingly, an initial increase in lattice parameter followed by a subsequent decrease was observed. The lattice parameter showed a maximum 8.396 Å when the Fe₂O₃ ratio was 49.0 mol%. When the system was iron-deficient, ZnO phase was detected in addition to the spinel phase. However, equimolar and iron-excessive compositions exhibited a single spinel phase. As the content of Fe₂O₃ increased, the grain size, density, saturation induction and initial permeability first increased and then decreased. Core losses at 50 kHz and 150 mT, however, changed in the opposite way. Finally, NiCuZn ferrite with an equimolar composition (50.0 mol%) showed the highest initial permeability (1467), highest saturation induction (361 mT) and lowest core losses (234 kW/m³).     

Mossbauer, infrared and magnetic susceptibility studies of iron sodium borate glasses doped by sulphur

The affect of sulphur on the structural properties of iron sodium diborate glasses having the composition {(100−x)Na₂B₄O₇+xFe₂O₃}+yS, where x=0.05, 0.15 and 0.25 mol% and Y=0, 2.5 and 5 wt% was studied by infrared, Mossbauer spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility measurements. It was found that, for samples having 5 mol% Fe₂O₃ and free from sulphur, the iron ions are present in both Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ states and also 92% of the total iron enters the glass network as a glass former. The ratio of Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺ increases with increasing the iron content for sulphur-free samples and others containing sulphur. This ratio also decreases with increasing the sulphur content. The magnetic susceptibility was found to decrease with increasing the sulphur content. Also, the increase of Fe₂O₃ content led to a less symmetrical environment of Fe³⁺ ions and vice versa for the Fe²⁺ environment.     

Microwave synthesis of magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles used as a precursor of nanocomposites and ferrofluids

Methods to synthesize magnetic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles and to modify the surface of particles are presented in the present investigation. Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles were prepared by the co-precipitation of Fe³⁺ and Fe²⁺, NH₃·H₂O was used as the precipitating agent to adjust the pH value, and the aging of Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles was accelerated by microwave (MW) irradiation. The obtained Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The average size of Fe₃O₄ crystallites was found to be around 8–9 nm. Thereafter, the surface of Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles was modified by stearic acid. The resultant sample was characterized by FT-IR, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), XRD, lipophilic degree (LD) and sedimentation test. The FT-IR results indicated that a covalent bond was formed by chemical reaction between the hydroxyl groups on the surface of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles and carboxyl groups of stearic acid, which changed the polarity of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles. The dispersion of Fe₃O₄ in organic solvent was greatly improved. Effects of reaction time, reaction temperature and concentration of stearic acid on particle surface modification were investigated. In addition, Fe₃O₄/polystyrene (PS) nanocomposite was synthesized by adding surface modified Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles into styrene monomer, followed by the radical polymerization. The obtained nanocomposite was tested by thermogravimetry (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and XRD. Results revealed that the thermal stability of PS was not significantly changed after adding Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles. The Fe₃O₄ magnetic fluid was characterized using UV–vis spectrophotometer, Gouy magnetic balance and laser particle-size analyzer. The testing results showed that the magnetic fluid had excellent stability, and had susceptibility of 4.46×10⁻⁸ and saturated magnetization of 6.56 emu/g. In addition, the mean size d (0.99) of magnetic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles in the fluid was 36.19 nm.     

Interactions of ferrimagnetic glass/glass-ceramics with bovine serum albumin

Glasses/glass-ceramics with nominal composition 34 SiO₂-(45 − x)CaO-16P₂O₅-4.5MgO-0.5CaF₂ − xFe₂O₃ (where x = 10, 15, 20 wt%) have been prepared by melt quenching technique. These are characterized for structural and micro structural properties by using XRD and Raman spectroscopy. Interaction of glass-ceramics samples with bovine serum albumin (BSA) has been studied using SEM and TOF-SIMS. The formation of magnetite, apatite and wollastonite phases are observed. Typical sizes of crystallites as seen from SEM measurement are 30-50 nm. The progressive addition of iron oxide to glass leads to increase in number of non-bridging oxygen, which in turn affects the response of glass-ceramics when immersed in BSA. The samples with 15 and 20 wt% Fe₂O₃ have shown nearly full surface coverage with BSA, while the sample with 10 wt% Fe₂O₃ shows poor adhesion.     

Superparamagnetic silica nanoparticles with immobilized metal affinity ligands for protein adsorption

Superparamagnetic silica-coated magnetite (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles with immobilized metal affinity ligands were prepared for protein adsorption. First, magnetite nanoparticles were synthesized by co-precipitating Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ in an ammonia solution. Then silica was coated on the Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles using a sol–gel method to obtain magnetic silica nanoparticles. The condensation product of 3-Glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GLYMO) and iminodiacetic acid (IDA) was immobilized on them and after charged with Cu²⁺, the magnetic silica nanoparticles with immobilized Cu²⁺ were applied for the adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA). Scanning electron micrograph showed that the magnetic silica nanoparticles with an average size of 190 nm were well dispersed without aggregation. X-ray diffraction showed the spinel structure for the magnetite particles coated with silica. Magnetic measurement revealed the magnetic silica nanoparticles were superparamagnetic and the saturation magnetization was about 15.0 emu/g. Protein adsorption results showed that the nanoparticles had high adsorption capacity for BSA (73 mg/g) and low nonspecific adsorption. The regeneration of these nanoparticles was also studied.     

Study on dielectric and magnetic properties of Ho3Fe5O12 ceramics

Ho₃Fe₅O₁₂ ceramics with garnet structure were prepared by the solid-state reaction method. The results revealed the existence of Fe²⁺ ions have intensive influence on dielectric and magnetic properties of Ho₃Fe₅O₁₂ ceramics, which could be further confirmed by oxygen treatment. With a magnetic field lower than 10 kOe, the ME coefficient reaches 33 ps m⁻¹ at room temperature. And the ME coupling was further verified by dielectric anomaly near Néel temperature.     

A facile method to synthesize magnetic polymer nanospheres with multifunctional groups

Magnetic poly(styrene methyl methacrylate)/Fe₃O₄ nanospheres with ester groups were prepared by a modified one-step mini-emulsion polymerization in the presence of Fe₃O₄ ferrofluids. The effects of monomer dose, surfactant content, ferrofluid concentration and initiator content on the particle characteristics such as the size, morphology and magnetic properties were investigated by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and vibrating sample magnetometer. The results indicated that magnetic nanospheres were superparamagnetic with high saturation magnetization of 51.0 emu/g and corresponding magnetite content of 61.5 wt%. Subsequently, magnetic nanospheres with carboxyl and amino groups were also obtained by hydrolysis and ammonolysis reaction. These magnetic nanospheres with multifunctional groups have biomedical applications.     

Synthesis and magnetic properties of hard/soft SrFe12O19/Ni0.7Zn0.3Fe2O4 nanocomposite magnets

Magnetic nanocomposite SrFe₁₂O₁₉/Ni_0.7Zn_0.3Fe₂O₄ powders with different weight fractions of the Ni_0.7Zn_0.3Fe₂O₄ soft ferrite were synthesized by a combination of the sol–gel self-propagation and glyoxilate precursor methods. The results of magnetic measurements revealed the higher Mr/Ms ratio for the nanocomposites than that for the single phase SrFe₁₂O₁₉ which proves the existence of the intergrain exchange coupling between hard and soft magnetic phases with the exchange spring behavior. The highest Mr/Ms ratio of 0.63 was obtained in the composite consisting of 80 wt% of SrFe₁₂O₁₉ and 20 wt% Ni_0.7Zn_0.3Fe₂O₄. The microstructural studies of this sample exhibited the average dimensions of hard and soft phases about 20 nm and 15 nm, respectively which are small enough for strong exchange coupling according to the theoretical studies. The variations of the reduced remanence (Mr/Ms) with increasing the weight fraction of the soft phase could be also explained by the role of the exchange and dipolar interactions in tuning the magnetic properties of the nanocomposites.     

Study of magnetic properties and magnetoelectric effect in (x) Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4+(1−x)PZT composites

Magnetoelectric (ME) composites consisting of ferrite phase (x) Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Fe₂O₄+ferroelectric phase (1−x)Pb Zr_0.8Ti_0.2O₃ (Lead Zirconate Titanate—PZT) in which x (mol%) varies between 0 and 1 (0.0≤x≤1.0) was synthesized by double sintering ceramic method. The presence of constituent phases of ferrite, ferroelectric and their composites was confirmed by X-ray diffraction studies. The hysteresis measurement was used to study magnetic properties such as saturation magnetization (M_S) and magnetic moment (μ_B). The existence of single domain (SD) particle in the ferrite phase and mixed (SD+MD) particle in the composites was studied from AC susceptibility measurements. ME voltage coefficient for each mol% of ferrite phase was measured as a function of applied DC magnetic field and at the same time influence of magnetic field on ME response and resistivity of composites was studied. The maximum ME voltage coefficient of 0.84 mV/cm Oe was observed for 15% of ferrite phase and 85% of ferroelectric phase in the composites.