Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles dispersed in a SiO2 matrix synthesized by sol–gel processing

Abstract

(Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4)x/(SiO2)(100-x) (x = 5, 20 and 50 wt%) nanocomposites are synthesized by a sol-gel method using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and metallic nitrates as precursors, and by further annealing the powders for 1 hour at 1273 K. X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), room temperature vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) and SQUID measurements are employed for structural, morphological and magnetic samples characterization. For all the concentrations analysed, the powder nanocomposites actually consist of spinel NiZn ferrite nanoparticles, dispersed in an amorphous silica matrix. TEM studies reveal different particle size distributions and particle morphologies for the three ferrite contents. The 20 wt.% - NiZn ferrite samples consist of nearly spherical nanoparticles, of about 8 nm, mainly superparamagnetic, well-dispersed in the amorphous silica matrix, while the 5 wt.% - NiZn ferrite samples exhibit a bimodal particle size distribution (5 and 30 nm) of single-domain nanoparticles embedded in the silica. In the 50 wt.% - NiZn ferrite samples, two particle families are observed: small round superparamagnetic nanoparticles of about 8 nm embedded in the amorphous silica matrix and large, non-spherical, ferrimagnetic ones, forming agglomerates outside the matrix. In all the synthesized samples, thickness fringes are observed inside some of the ferrite nanoparticles in dark field images. This contrast is explained using the theory of electron diffraction in weak beam dark field (WBDF) condition and considering spherical ferrite nanoparticles. A large range of tailored magnetic properties varying the fraction, dispersion and mean size of the ferrimagnetic NiZn ferrite particles is obtained. Room temperature saturation magnetization values are found in the range 3.0 - 30.4 Am2/kg for the different concentration samples. Coercivity values, between 1.9 and 7.6 mT, are more than 50% higher than those measured in powders of pure stoichiometric NiZn ferrite nanoparticles and somewhat higher than those reported for similar NiZn ferrite/SiO2 nanocomposites also synthesized by sol-gel processes. A correlation between the nanocomposite microstructure and the observed magnetic properties is established.