Effect of Y2O3 doping on the electrical transport properties of Sr2MnNiFe12O22 Y-type hexaferrite

• Nano structured Sr2MnNiFe12O22 ferrites were prepared by sol–gel technique.
• Electrical properties were enhanced due to Y2O3 doping.
• The dielectric properties follows Maxwell Wagner model.
• The resistivity was enhanced drastically from 106 to 1010 Ω cm.
• The conduction mechanism determined was hopping type.

Y2O3 doped Y-type composite hexa-ferrites Sr2MnNiFe12O22 + xY2O3 (x = 0 wt%, 1 wt%, 2 wt%, 3 wt%, 4 wt%, 5 wt%) were synthesized successfully using sol-gel auto combustion technique. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals Y-type hexagonal structure with few traces of secondary phases. The decrease in grain size as a function of Yttrium content is attributed to the fact that Yttrium acts as a grain inhibitor. The DC resistivity was observed to increase with increasing Yttrium-contents due to the unavailability of Fe3+ ions at octahedral sites. Activation energy showed that the samples with high resistivity have high value of activation energy and vice versa. Permittivity decreases with the increase of frequency following Maxwell Wagner Model. In addition, the doped samples exhibit very low dielectric constant and low loss tangent in frequency range 20 Hz–1 MHz. The sample x = 5 wt% exhibit the lowest value of dielectric constant. The variation in imaginary part of dielectric constant and loss tangent with frequency show normal dielectric behavior for all the samples. The frequency dependent ac conductivity increases with increase in frequency and decrease with Y2O3 doping. These characteristics may be suitable for their potential applications in electromagnetic attenuation materials and microwave devices. The conductivity mechanism so determined was hopping mechanism. The dc resistivity of the doped ferrites measured in our case is about 1010 Ω-cm that meets the requirement for fabrication of components by electroplating.