Investigation of structural, optical, magnetic and electrical properties of tungsten doped NiZn nano-ferrites

Tungsten substituted nickel-zinc ferrite nanoparticles with chemical composition of Ni0.5Zn0.5WxFe2-xO4 (x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 & 1.0) were successfully synthesized by a chemical co-precipitation method. The prepared ferrites were pre sintered at 850 °C and then annealed at 1000 °C in a muffle furnace for 3 h each. This sintered powder was inspected by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) to study the structural, optical, and magnetic properties. XRD measurement revealed the phase purity of all the nanoferrite samples with cubic spinel structure. The estimated crystallite size by X-ray line broadening is found in the range of 49-62 nm. FTIR spectra of all the samples have observed two prominent absorption bands in the range 400-700 cm−1 arising due to tetrahedral and octahedral stretching vibrations. Vibrating sample magnetometer experiments showed that the saturation magnetizations (MS) decreased with an increase in non-magnetic tungsten ion doping. The electrical resistivity of tungsten doped NiZn nano ferrites were examined extensively as a function of temperature. With an increase in tungsten composition, resistivity was found to decrease from 2.2 × 105 Ω cm to 1.9 × 105 Ω cm which indicates the semiconducting behavior of the ferrite samples. The activation energy also decreased from 0.0264 to 0.0221 eV at x = 0.0 to x = 1.0. These low coercive field tungsten doped NiZn ferrites are suitable for hyperthermia and sensor applications. These observations are explained in detail on the basis of various models and theories.