Influence of neodymium substitution on structural, magnetic and spectroscopic properties of Ni-Zn-Al nano-ferrites.

Ni 0.6 Zn 0.4 Al 0.5 Fe 1.5- x Nd x O 4 ferrite samples, with x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.075 and 0.1, were synthesized using the sol-gel method. The effects of Nd 3+ doping on the structural, magnetic and spectroscopic properties were investigated. XRD Rietveld refinement carried out using the FULLPROF program shows that the Ni-Zn ferrite retains its pure single phase cubic structure with Fd 3̄ m space group. An increase in lattice constant and porosity happens with increasing Nd 3+ concentration. FTIR spectra present the two prominent absorption bands in the range of 400 to 600 cm -1 which are the fingerprint region of all ferrites. The change in Raman modes in the synthesized ferrite system were observed with Nd 3+ substitution. The magnetization curves show a typical transition, at the Curie temperature T C , from a low temperature ferrimagnetic state to a high temperature paramagnetic state. The saturation magnetization, coercivity and remanence magnetization are found to be decreasing with increasing the Nd 3+ concentration.