BaCO3 mediated modifications in structural and magnetic properties of natural nanoferrites

• Incorporation of BaCO3 into the natural ferrite materials.
• Influence of BaCO3 concentrations in modifying structural properties and crystallite compounds.
• Observation on magnetic response of the doped natural ferrite materials.

Preparing M-type barium hexaferrite and improving the magnetic response of natural ferrites by incorporating barium carbonate (BaCO3) is ever-demanding. Series of barium carbonate doped ferrites with composition (100−x)Fe3O4·xBaCO3 (x=0, 10, 20, 30 wt%) are prepared through solid state reaction method and sintered gradually at temperatures of 800 and 1000 °C. Nanoparticles of natural ferrite and commercial BaCO3 are used as raw materials. Impacts of BaCO3 on structural and magnetic properties of these synthesized ferrites are inspected. The obtained ferrites are characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) at room temperature. Uniform barium hexaferrite particles in terms of both morphology and size are not achieved. The average crystallite size of BaFe12O19 is observed to be within 30–600 nm. The sintering process results phase transformation from Fe3O4 (magnetite) to α-Fe2O3 (hematite) and the formation of hexagonal barium ferrite crystals. The occurrence of barium crystal is found to enhance with the increase of BaCO3 concentrations up to 20 wt% and suddenly drop at 30 wt%. Saturation and remanent magnetization of the doped ferrites are significantly augmented up to 16.37 and 8.92 emu g−1, respectively compared to their pure counterpart. Furthermore, the coercivity field is slightly decreased as BaCO3 concentrations are increased. BaCO3 mediated improvements in the magnetic response of natural ferrites are demonstrated.