Spinel Structured Iron Gallium Oxynitride - Fe2GaO2N2

Abstract

A facile method was successfully developed to prepare Ternary oxynitride of iron and gallium. Initially mixed oxyhydroxides of Iron and gallium were prepared by co-precipitation method. Then this was nitrided using urea and agar in presence of ammonia at 900°C, which gave mixed cation oxynitride . This mixed oxynitride was characterized using XRD, XPS and SEM. The X-ray diffraction pattern of the Fex’GaxOyNz phase was refined within the cubic spinel structure (space group Fd-3m), using the fullprof program. On assuming 3+ oxidation state for half of iron and whole of gallium, the chemical composition of the oxynitride spinel determined by the X-ray analysis is Fe2GaN2O2. The refinement using these parameters resulted in a good fit to the observed diffraction data, with a crystallographic R factor of 5.92. This ternary oxynitride of iron and gallium is a novel material which can give unique optical and magnetic properties.