Evolution of coercivity and its angular dependence in CoFe nanostructures subjected to field cooling

Evolution of coercivity and its angular dependence in CoFe nanostructures subjected to field cooling has been investigated in this work. Spherical CoFe grains with an average diameter of 30 nm were grown on a silicon substrate using electron beam evaporation. Further, the as‐deposited sample was subjected to field cooling. The morphology and topography of the sample before and after field cooling were characterized by atomic force microscopy and SEM. Magnetic force microscopy indicated that there is a good uniformity of magnetization throughout the sample after field cooling. Vibrating sample magnetometer measurements indicate that the coercivity in CoFe nanostructures is dependent on shape of the nanostructures. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Annealing effect on the structural and magnetic properties of nickel ferrite thin films

Nickel ferrite is a soft magnetic material with inverse spinel structure. Soft ferrite films are used in microwave devices, integrated planar circuits, etc., because of their high resistivity. In this work, thin films of nickel ferrite were deposited on Si (100) substrate by using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. The thickness of the film was measured by surface profilometer and also by X‐ray reflectivity (XRR). The films were annealed at three different temperatures to observe the effect on the structural and magnetic properties of the film. The films were characterised by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) to study the structural and magnetic properties. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Magnetic properties of RE0.7Ca0.3Mn0.95Fe0.05O3 (RE=Sm and Gd) manganites at low temperature

The magnetic properties of RE_0.7Ca_0.3Mn_0.95Fe_0.05O₃ perovskite with rare-earth cations (RE=Sm and Gd) were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction, Mössbauer spectroscopy, and low temperature (4.2-266 K) magnetization measurements. Structural characterization of these compounds shows that they both have orthorhombic (Pbnm) structure. The Mössbauer spectra show clear evidence of local structural distortion of the Mn(Fe)O₆ octahedron, which is based on the non-zero nuclear quadrupole interactions for high-spin Fe³⁺ ions. It was found that the local structural distortion increases significantly when Sm³⁺ is replaced by Gd³⁺. This distortion is attributed to the Jahn-Teller coupling strength as estimated from the Mössbauer effect results. The magnetic results indicate that the Curie temperature decreases as a result of replacing Sm by Gd. This is due to the decrease of the average A-site cationic radius 〈r_A〉. The rapid increase of magnetization at low temperature indicates the magnetic ordering of rare earth ions at the A-site.     

Structural and magnetic study of swift heavy ion irradiated W/Fe multilayer structure

The present study reports the effect of swift heavy ion irradiation on structural and magnetic properties of sputtered W/Fe multilayer structure (MLS) having bilayer compositions of [W(10 Å)/Fe(20 Å)]_10BL. The MLS is irradiated by 120 MeV Au⁹⁺ ions of fluences 1×10¹³ and 4×10¹³ ions/cm². Techniques like X-ray reflectivity (XRR), cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (X-TEM) and DC magnetization with a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) are used for structural and magnetic characterization of pristine and irradiated MLS. Analysis of XRR data using Parratt’s formalism shows a significant increase in W/Fe layer roughness. X-TEM studies reveal that intra-layer microstructure of Fe layers in MLS becomes nano-crystalline on irradiation. DC magnetization study shows that with spacer layer thickness interlayer coupling changes between ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic.     

Effect of iron doping concentration on magnetic properties of ZnO nanoparticles

The ZnO:Fe nanoparticles of mean size 3-10 nm were synthesized at room temperature by simple co-precipitation method. The crystallite structure, morphology and size estimation were performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The wurtzite structure of ZnO gradually degrades with the increasing Fe doping concentration. The magnetic behavior of the nanoparticles of ZnO with varying Fe doping concentration was investigated using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Initially these nanoparticles showed strong ferromagnetic behavior, however at higher doping percentage of Fe, the ferromagnetic behavior was suppressed and paramagnetic nature was observed. The enhanced antiferromagnetic interaction between neighboring Fe-Fe ions suppressed the ferromagnetism at higher doping concentrations of Fe. Room-temperature Mössbauer spectroscopy investigation showed Fe³⁺ nature of the iron atom in ZnO matrix.     

Preparation, characterization and surface study of poly-epsilon caprolactone magnetic microparticles

Magnetic microparticles (MMP) have shown to be applied in increasing applications in various fields of biotechnology and medicine. One of their most promising utilization is the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in which superparamagnetic substances as magnetite are used in a nanometric size (less than 30 nm) and encapsulated within locally injected biodegradable microparticles. In this paper, magnetite has been encapsulated in polymer-based microparticles. The MMP have been prepared by an emulsion evaporation method. The different parameters influencing the particles size were investigated. The size was found to decrease as the stirring speed or the stabilizer amount (to certain limit) increases. The encapsulation efficacy was more than 90% yielding a magnetite loading of up to 30%, w/w. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed less than 2% of iron atoms at the microparticles surface. The zeta potential response of MMP towards pH variation was very similar to that of magnetite-free microparticles confirming the encapsulation of magnetite within the microparticles. X-ray diffraction assays showed that magnetite crystalline structure was conserved after emulsification and MMP formation. Vibration simple magnetometer (VSM) showed a superparamagnetic profile of the MMP with a magnetic saturation increasing with the increased magnetite amount in the microparticles. These magnetic microparticles can enable clinicians to control microparticles distribution after a local administration in tumors by MRI. They can also be administered to target a defined tumor area by focusing a magnetic field on the surfaces covering the cancerous tissue.     

Swift heavy ion-induced effects in Ce-doped nickel ferrite nanoparticles

Swift heavy ions of various energies are being used for material modifications. The induced modifications depend on the kind of defects produced during interaction of ions with the target material. In the present work, irradiation of 200 MeV Ag beam-induced effects in NiFe₂O₄ and NiCe_0.04Fe_1.96O₄ nanoparticles are studied at two different fluences, 2×10¹² and 1×10¹³ ions/cm². Nanoparticles of nickel ferrite and Ce-doped nickel ferrite were prepared by chemical route. X-ray diffraction pattern shows peaks corresponding to pure spinel structure in both the systems, NiFe₂O₄ and NiCe_0.04Fe_1.96O₄. The pristine as well as irradiated nanoparticles were characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Raman spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Raman spectra show bands corresponding to spinel structure. After irradiation, the position of the bands does not change significantly for both samples. The widths corresponding to the same band in both the systems show opposite trend with fluence. VSM results show that after irradiation, the magnetization decreases from 40 to 32 A m²/kg for NiFe₂O₄ and from 39 to 31 A m²/kg for NiCe_0.04Fe_1.96O₄. EPR results show that after doping with Ce as well as irradiation, the EPR line width is reduced, making samples important for applications.     

Grain boundary defects induced room temperature ferromagnetism in V doped ZnO thin films

Vanadium (V) doped ZnO thin films (Zn_1‐xV_x O, where x = 0, 0.05, 0.10) have been grown on sapphire substrates by RF magnetron sputtering to realize room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM). The grown films have been subjected to X‐ray diffraction (XRD), resonant Raman scattering, photoluminescence (PL) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements to investigate their structural, optical and magnetic properties, respectively. The full width at half maximum of XRD and Raman scattering peaks increases with V ion concentration indicates that the V ions have been substituted on Zn²⁺ ions in the ZnO matrix. The increase in oxygen vacancies with V concentration is evidenced by PL measurements. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry analysis confirms the presence of the V ions in the films. The room temperature VSM measurements reveal the signature of ferromagnetism in V doped ZnO thin films. It has been observed that the grain boundary defects, i.e., oxygen vacancies play a crucial role in inducing RTFM in V doped ZnO films. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Structural and magnetic properties of nano-crystalline Ni–Zn ferrites synthesized using egg-white precursor

Nano-crystalline nickel–zinc ferrites of different compositions; Ni_1−xZn_xFe₂O₄ (x=0.0–1.0) were prepared by a precursor method involving egg-white and metal nitrates. An appropriate mechanism for the egg-white-metal complexation was suggested. Differential thermal analysis-thermogravimetry, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), vibrating sample magnetometer and AC-magnetic susceptibility measurements were carried out to investigate chemical, structural and magnetic aspects of Ni–Zn ferrites. XRD confirmed the formation of spinel cubic structure. The average crystallite size was calculated using line broadening in XRD patterns. Structural parameters like lattice constant, X-ray density, bond lengths and inter-cationic distance were determined from XRD data. TEM showed agglomerated particles with average size agreed well with that estimated using XRD. FT-IR spectra confirm the formation of spinel structure and further lends support to the proposed cation distribution. Zn-content was found to have a significant influence on the magnetic properties of the system. The changes in the magnetic properties can be attributed to the influence of the cationic stoichiometry and their occupancy in the specific sites.     

Adjustable microwave absorption properties of flake shaped (Ni0.5Zn0.5)Fe2O4/Co nanocomposites with stress induced orientation

Flake shaped (Ni_0.5Zn_0.5)Fe₂O₄/Co nanocomposites were successfully fabricated by co-precipitating of Ni-Zn ferrite on the surface of cobalt nanoflakes. The electromagnetic characteristics of the samples were studied at the frequency of 0.1–14 GHz. The results showed that the cobalt nanoflakes in compacted nanocomposites were well orientated, and the nanocomposites were characterized with low optimal reflection loss (RL) of −33.8 dB at 11.5 GHz and broad RL bandwidth for <−20 dB in the frequency range of 7.6–12.1 GHz. At the same time, the position of the absorptive band can be adjusted by changing the mass ratio of ferrite to cobalt in the nanocomposites. It is proposed that the excellent microwave absorption properties are related to the combination of strong shape anisotropy of cobalt nanoflakes and adjustable dielectric loss.