Structural and Magnetic Properties of Zinc Phosphate Doped Erbium Glass Embedded with Fe3O4 Nanoparticles

Series of erbium doped zinc phosphate glass embedded with Fe3O4 nanoparticles having a composition of (69-x)P2O5-30ZnO-1Er2O3-(x)Fe3O4, where x = 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 mol % has successfully been prepared by melt quenching technique. The glass is characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). It is observed that the amorphous nature of the glass is confirmed by x-ray diffraction. The particle size of Fe3O4 nanoparticles which has been estimated by Scherrer formula and by the TEM image is found to be around 26 nm. The magnetic measurement shows that for the glass without nanoparticles, it behaves like a diamagnetic but behaved as paramagnetic if 0.5-1 mol % Fe3O4 nanoparticles is added. It is also found that the Fe3O4 nanoparticles exhibit ferromagnetic behavior with a saturation magnetization of 48.9 emu/g.