Effects of structural distortion on magnetic properties of CexY3−xFe5O12

This paper reports on preparation of the garnet compounds CexY3−xFe5O12 (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6) by sol-gel method. The structural and magnetic properties were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR), alternative gradient field magnetometer (AGFM) and Mössbauer measurement. The XRD analysis indicated that all the samples have garnet structure. Also, the SEM images revealed that the particle sizes are in the range of 65 nm and has no noticeable effect by Ce3+ ion substitution. The a-d superexchange interactions is found to play an important role in the saturation magnetization of the sample. The variation of coercivity is governed by the change of anisotropy. The hyperfine parameters were discussed based on fitting the Mössbauer spectra with four sextets corresponding to distorted and undistorted tetrahedral and octahedral sites.