Glycine-assisted fabrication of zinc and manganese ferrite nanoparticles

In this research work, we have used a microwave combustion method to synthesize three nanocrystalline ferrites including MnFe2O4, ZnFe2O4 and Mn0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4. For synthesis of these ferrites, a mixture of iron (III) nitrate, zinc and/or manganese nitrate, along with glycine, as fuel, was heated in a microwave oven for a few minutes to afford the required ferrite in pure and quantitative yield. The obtained ferrites were characterized by X-ray powder Diffraction (XRD), and their mean grain size and morphology were determined by the Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) studies. The magnetic properties of the synthesized ferrites were investigated with Vibrating Sample Magnetometry (VSM), and their hysteresis loops were obtained. The specific surface area and pore size distributions of the samples were also obtained using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BJH) methods, respectively.