Structural, magnetic, and elastic properties of nanocrystalline Al-substituted Mn0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 ferrite

Structural, elastic, and magnetic properties have been investigated for Mn0.5Zn0.5Fe2−xAlxO4 (x=0.0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5) prepared by sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD) beside Fourier-transform infrared spectra proves the formation of a pure cubic spinel phase for the whole samples with nanosized crystals of size ranging from 4.5 to 10.1 nm. TEM images confirmed the extremely fine size of the prepared samples. XRD and FTIR analyses clarified that Al substitution has improved the elastic properties of the Mn-Zn ferrites. Superparamagnetic behavior has been recorded for the prepared samples through vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), whose data were used to suggest a cation distribution supported by the experimental data of the lattice parameter and absorption peaks of IR spectra.