Effect of Zn and Mg doping on structural, dielectric and magnetic properties of tetragonal CuFe2O4

The Cu1−xAxFe2O4 (A = Zn, Mg; x = 0.0, 0.5) ferrites were successfully synthesized by chemical co-precipitation method. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy reveals that all the ferrite samples are in single-phase with tetragonal structure for CFO and cubic spinel structure for CZFO and CMFO samples. SEM micrograph shows the variation of grain size with Zn and Mg doping in parent CFO sample. Frequency dependent dielectric response confirms the dielectric polarization and electrical conduction mechanism in the present series with a maximum value of dielectric constant and loss tangent for CZFO sample. The anomaly ∼493 K in temperature dependent dielectric constant and dielectric loss is assigned to tetragonal to cubic phase transition in CFO sample. The magnetic measurement explored that the saturation value (Ms) is maximum for CZFO as compared to CFO and CMFO ferrites samples.

► Doping of Zn2+ and Mg2+ effects the structural, dielectric and magnetic properties. ► Substitution of Zn2+ and Mg2+ transforms tetragonal structure of CFO to cubic. ► Dielectric response confirms the dielectric polarization and electrical conduction mechanism. ► The anomaly ∼493 K is attributed to tetragonal to cubic phase transition in CFO sample. ► VSM concludes that saturation magnetization value (Ms) is maximum for CZFO.