Structural, morphological and magnetic properties of Ni–Cu–Co ferrites by the Sm3+ ions substitution

Abstract

In this experiment, samarium ion was doping into nickel–copper–cobalt ferrite system by sol–gel self-propagation. The prepared chemical formula is [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text], 0.025, 0.05, 0.075 and 0.1). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the samples confirms the formation of a cubic spinel structure. The average crystallite sizes are about 66–88 nm for all the prepared samples. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements showed all the prepared samples had Fe–O absorption peaks. This finding further confirms that the prepared sample has a spinel structure. The morphological changes of the samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). According to the characterization results, the surface morphology shows spherical grains. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) test results showed that the as-prepared pure samples contained Ni, Cu, Co, Fe elements, whereas other samples contained Sm elements and the contents were different. This indicates that the prepared samples are purer and the doping amount has been increased. The magnetic parameters of samples were measured by vibration sample magnetometer (VSM) at room temperature. The analysis of magnetic parameters shows that the saturation magnetization [Formula: see text] and remanent magnetization [Formula: see text] of the sample decrease with the increase of the doping amount of samarium ions. From the magnetic parameters, it can be concluded that [Formula: see text]-doped Ni–Cu–Co ferrites have low magnetic properties.