Magnetic, electronic and structural properties of ZnxFe3−xO4

A series of samples ZnxFe3−xO4 have been prepared by the chemical coprecipitation technique and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XRD demonstrates all the samples of ZnxFe3−xO4 have a spinel structure same as Fe3O4. The magnetic hysteresis loops of ZnxFe3−xO4 obtained from VSM indicate that the saturation magnetization has a maximum when x is ∼1/3. The chemical states of Fe atoms and Zn atoms in zinc ferrites have been measured using XPS and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The Fe 2p core-level XPS spectra and Zn L3M45M45 Auger peaks have been analyzed and the results have been discussed in correlation with the samples' magnetic properties. These results suggest most of Zn atoms occupy the tetrahedral sites and a small amount of them occupy the octahedral sites.