57Fe Mössbauer investigations of manganese-containing spinels

Cation distributions and related order-disorder phenomena in the naturally occurring Mn-spinels: iwakiite, galaxite and franklinite, have been investigated by means of⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. Previous measurements on an iwakiite sample indicated the existence of Mn-rich and Mn-poor regions. This interpretation has been confirmed in this investigation by further measurements on annealed iwakiite samples. The⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectrum of galaxite from Bald Knob, NC, is a well-resolved quadrupole doublet and indicates the presence of a single crystallographic Fe³⁺ species. A galaxite sample from Thailand exhibited a complex spectrum of Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ quadrupole doublets: This sample has been misidentified and should be regarded as a member of the (Mg, Fe)(Al, Fe)₂O₄ series. The⁵⁷Fe hyperfine parameters of a rare franklinite from Längban, Sweden, are very close to those for synthetic zinc ferrite, confirming electron microprobe results of an unusually high zinc content.     

57Fe and119Sn Mössbauer studies on La1.25Nd0.6Sr0.15CuO4

⁵⁷Fe- and¹¹⁹Sn Mössbauer effect studies on 0.5 at %⁵⁷Fe (or¹¹⁹Sn) dopednon-superconducting La_1.25Nd_0.6Sr_0.15CuO₄ in the temperature region 300 K T4.2 K reveal an onset of local magnetic ordering occurring atT _m 32 K for both⁵⁷Fe—as well as¹¹⁹Sn-doped samples. The local magnetic ordering shows up in the presence of a very large transferred hyperfine field ofB _thf 11.0(5)T at the¹¹⁹Sn nuclei. Since such a large field is neither present in antiferromagnetic La₂CuO₄, nor in superconducting La_1.85Sr_0.15CuO₄ or overdoped La_2–xSr_xCuO₄ (x=0.4), the occurrence of such local spin correlations seems to be a signature of the non-superconducting low temperature tetragonal phase of La_1.25Nd_0.6Sr_0.15CuO₄.     

Fe57 Mössbauer study in cobalt substituted magnetite

The Mössbauer effect has been studied in the mixed ferrites Co _x Fe_3–x O₄ (forx=0.8, 0.9 and 1) with the spinel structure in the temperature range between 78 and 380 K. The composition withx=1, showed an expected Zeeman spectrum with two overlapping magnetic hyperfine patterns related to the Fe³⁺ ions in tetrahedral and octahedral sites. While for samples withx=0.8 and 0.9 the Mössbauer spectrum for each compound was successfully analysed into three different patterns corresponding to the ferric ions placed at the tetrahedral and octahedral sites and ferrous ions at the octahedral sites, indicating no electron transfer between Fe³⁺ and Fe²⁺, where the quantity of cobalt is sufficiently large to be located at the six nearest neighbours to ferrous ions. The Mössbauer effect parameters were calculated for these observed sites and their variation with temperature reported. The reduced hyperfine magnetic fields of the Fe³⁺ (B) ions were found to follow the Brillouin curve forS=5/2 and one third power law. The magnetic ordering temperature was determined to be 815 K and the possible magnetic interactions were discussed.     

Mössbauer investigation of In and Sc substituted barium hexaferrite

A detail Mössbauer analysis has been performed on polycrystalline samples of hexagonal ferrites with composition BaFe_12-x In _x O₁₉ (0x4) and BaFe_12-x ScxO₁₉ (0x3). The dependence on composition of the distribution of metallic cations among the five sublattices of the structure has been determined: these data confirm the strong preference of Sc and In ions for the sites belonging to the R block.As a consequence iron ions located in the main spin up sublattice (12k) with different number of neighbouring Fe³⁺ ions display different temperature dependences of the magnetization. The occurrence of non-collinear spin configurations, even for very low degrees of substitution of iron, has also been evidenced.     

Galvanostatic charge–discharge tests, 57Fe and 119Sn Mössbauer and XRD measurements on novel Sn-Ni-Fe electrodeposits

Novel Sn–Ni–Fe ternary alloys were successfully deposited by pulse plating technique from an electrolyte based on sodium gluconate which acts as a complexing agent. XRD results revealed the predominantly amorphous character for the majority of the deposits. ⁵⁷Fe and ¹¹⁹Sn conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy indicated the formation of a paramagnetic amorphous alloy using a short on-pulse duration and where the Fe content was less than 22 wt.%. Galvanostatic charge–discharge tests of the novel Sn-Ni-Fe deposits were carried out in a model Li-ion cell and indicated that the Sn-Ni-Fe alloys have potential as an electrode material.     

Complementary 57Fe and 119Sn M?ssbauer study of mechanochemical redox reaction

A non-thermal route to oxide nanocomposites by mechanochemical redox reactions in the ??-Fe₂O₃ + SnO system is presented. The important impact of the work, from the methodology point of view, is the combined application of ⁵⁷Fe and ¹¹⁹Sn Mössbauer spectroscopies to the study of the mechanically induced redox processes, resulting in the reduction of ??-Fe₂O₃ and the oxidation of SnO. In addition, the obtained product was characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy.     

Study of hexagonal R-type BaFe4Sn2O11 by57Fe and119Sn Mössbauer spectroscopy

Mössbauer data have been obtained from both the⁵⁷Fe and¹¹⁹Sn isotopes for BaFe₄Sn₂O₁₁. Variable temperature studies show that magnetic ordering occurs at 77K and is probably complete at 4K. Average hyperfine fields of 504kG and 45kG were observed at the iron and tin nuclei respectively.     

Mössbauer spectroscopy on57Fe: NaCl crystals

Mössbauer absorbtion spectra of⁵⁷Fe-doped NaCl crystal were measured and correlated with an adequate electric field gradient computation to describe the dipolar complexes occuring at the decay of Suzuki-phase under thermal treatment and X-ray irradiation. An electrostatic potential of the type was taken into account in the evaluation of EFG tensor.     

Interpretation of the 119Sn Mössbauer parameters

The variations of the ¹¹⁹Sn Mössbauer isomer shift δ are interpreted for tin compounds from a semi-empirical tight-binding calculation of the electronic density at the nucleus ρ(0). A molecular model is proposed in order to relate the variations of ρ(0) for the Sn(IV) chalcogenides to the changes in the Sn environment. The variations of the experimental values of the quadrupole splitting δ are linearly correlated to the values of the electric field gradients (EFG) calculated by the full-potential linearized-augmented-plane-wave (FP-LAPW) method. The value of the ¹¹⁹Sn nuclear quadrupole moment is found to be |Q| = 10.5 ± 0.2 fm². Finally, the relation between the EFG and the Sn environment is discussed for SnO.     

57 Fe Mössbauer and X-ray characterisation of sandstones

Sandstones from the Free State province in South Africa have been mined and processed mainly by small scale and artisanal miners in the rural areas. In the present investigation basic fire proof and water absorption tests, X-ray and γ-ray based characterisation techniques were used to study the sandstones. The collected samples were grouped according to their apparent colour in day light conditions and the elemental analysis showed the presence of a high amount of oxygen (>52%) and silicon (>38%) with Mn, Al, Fe and Ca as major elements in proportions related to the colour distribution of the various sandstones. The uniaxial compressive stress was found to be the highest (56 MPa) for the greyish sandstone and the lowest (8 MPa) for the white sandstone sample, also associated with the lowest (Al+Fe)/Si value of 0.082. The humidity test showed that the 6 % water absorption was lower than the recommended ASTM value of 8 %. The sandstone samples were also subjected to various high temperatures to simulate possible fire conditions and it was found that the non alteration of the mineral species might be one of the reasons why the sandstones are regarded as the most refractory amongst the building materials typically used. Mössbauer spectroscopy revealed that iron is present in all the sandstones, mainly as Fe^3?+? with the black sandstone showing an additional presence of 3 % Fe^2?+? indicating that a higher iron content coupled to higher silicon content, contributes to an increase in the uniaxial compressive strength.     

Magnetic and119Sn Mössbauer studies on a new Heusler alloy Co2ScSn

A new alloy, having the formula, Co₂ScSn, has been prepared. This is found to have the cubic Heusler L2₁ type structure (a = 6.19A). Magnetization measurements reveal a large drop in magnetization around 270K. Low field ac susceptibility also shows a transition at 268K which we take to be the Curie temperature of the alloy. The magnetic moment at 5K is found to be 0.55 _B per cobalt atom.¹¹⁹Sn Mössbauer measurements at 8K show a hyperfine split spectrum with a hyperfine field of about 40 kOe. Attempts to prepare other Co₂RSn alloys particularly with R=Lu, were not successful.     

Synchrotron Mössbauer source of57Fe radiation

A nonradioactive source of Mössbauer radiation is described for use in Mössbauer absorption and scattering spectroscopy. The radiation is generated by synchrotron Xrays in an iron borate single crystal set in diffraction conditions at the Néel temperature (75.3°C). Like a conventional Mössbauer source the new Synchrotron Mössbauer (SM) source emits singleline radiation of about natural linewidth, but in addition the emitted radiation is fully recoilless, highly directed and of pure linear polarization. An extremely high suppression of the electronic scattering is achieved. The latter circumstance allows one to perform Mössbauer experiments using pulsed synchrotron radiation in a steady state mode as in a normal Mössbauer measurement.The theory of the SM source is developed. First Mössbauer spectra obtained with the SM source are shown. Applications of the SM source are discussed.     

Fe57 Mössbauer effect in nickel hydride

The Mössbauer effect of Fe⁵⁷ in nickel containing electrolytically introduced hydrogen shows the presence of two phases, a nonmagnetic hydride phase and a magnetic phase containing little or no hydrogen. The isomer shift of Fe⁵⁷ in the hydride is large and positive corresponding to an increase in the effective d-electron concentration on the iron atoms of at least 0.35 d-electrons. Measurements in a high magnetic field at low temperature show that the iron retains a magnetic moment in the hydride. The effect of dissolved hydrogen on the isomer shift in an austenitic stainless steel has also been demonstrated.     

Mössbauer effect diffraction from polycrystalline57Fe

We built a Debye-Scherrer type powder diffractometer with a⁵⁷Co radiation source and a large-angle position-sensitive detector. We tuned the incident -ray beam on and off the Mössbauer effect resonance, and measured diffraction patterns from our textured samples of polycrystalline⁵⁷Fe. Mössbauer effect diffraction dominated over X-ray diffraction for the higher order Bragg peaks.     

Magnetization and Mössbauer studies of 57Fe doped SrCoO3

⁵⁷Fe (1%) doped SrCoO₃ obtained by high-pressure method, has been investigated by magnetization and Mössbauer spectroscopy studies (MS) in the temperature range 4.2 K to 300 K. The ferromagnetic ordering temperature T _C obtained is 272(2) K. Isothermal magnetization curves have been measured at various temperatures, from which the saturation moments (M _sat) have been deduced. The ⁵⁷Fe MS spectra display standard six-line patterns with an isomer shift typical of Fe^3?+? and a very small quadrupole splitting (QS = 0.14(1) mm/s above T _C). The magnetic hyperfine field at 4.2 K is 276(1) kOe. The temperature dependencies of the iron hyperfine field and M _sat (1.83 µ _B at 5 K) are almost identical. This shows that the Fe^3?+? is replacing Co^4?+?, both of the same electronic configuration. They also interact similarly, namely the Fe–Co exchange is almost identical to the Co–Co exchange.     

Magnetism of ErAgSn studied by 119Sn Mössbauer spectroscopy

Antiferromagnetic ErAgSn compound was investigated in detail by ¹¹⁹Sn Mössbauer spectroscopy in a temperature range between 2.2 and 300 K. The ¹¹⁹Sn spectra recorded below 4.2 K can be well fitted with a single main magnetic component in agreement with recent neutron diffraction studies [1]. A broad distribution of magnetic hyperfine fields observed above 4.2 K and enhanced spin correlations among Er³⁺ ions at T > T _N = 5.6 K are the remarkable features of the investigated system.