Synthesis and characterization of Ni1−xZnxFe2O4 spinel ferrites from tailored layered double hydroxide precursors

In this paper, a series of pure Ni1 − xZnxFe2O4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) spinel ferrites have been synthesized successfully using a novel route through calcination of tailored hydrotalcite-like layered double hydroxide molecular precursors of the type [(Ni + Zn)1 − x − yFey2+Fex3+(OH)2]x+(SO42−)x/2·mH2O at 900 °C for 2 h, in which the molar ratio of (Ni2+ + Zn2+)/(Fe2+ + Fe3+) was adjusted to the same value as that in single spinel ferrite itself. The physico-chemical characteristics of the LDHs and their resulting calcined products were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The results indicate that calcination of the as-synthesized LDH precursor affords a pure single Ni1 − xZnxFe2O4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) spinel ferrite phase. Moreover, formation of pure ferrites starting from LDHs precursors requires a much lower temperature and shorter time, leading to a lower chance of side-reactions occurring, because all metal cations on the brucite-like layers of LDHs can be uniformly distributed at an atomic level.