Impact of Ga3+ Ions on the Structure, Magnetic, and Optical Features of Co-Ni Nanostructured Spinel Ferrite Microspheres

Munirah A Almessiere; Yassine Slimani; Sadaqat Ali; Abdulhadi Baykal; Rabindran Jermy Balasamy; Sadik Guner; İsmail A Auwal; Alex V Trukhanov; Sergei V Trukhanov; Ayyar Manikandan

doi:10.3390/nano12162872

Impact of Ga³⁺ Ions on the Structure, Magnetic, and Optical Features of Co-Ni Nanostructured Spinel Ferrite Microspheres

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 Aug 21;12(16):2872. doi: 10.3390/nano12162872.

Authors

Munirah A Almessiere^{1

2}, Yassine Slimani¹, Sadaqat Ali³, Abdulhadi Baykal⁴, Rabindran Jermy Balasamy⁴, Sadik Guner⁵, İsmail A Auwal⁶, Alex V Trukhanov^{7

8}, Sergei V Trukhanov^{7

8}, Ayyar Manikandan⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biophysics, Institute for Research and Medical Consultations (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Physics, College of Science, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia.
³ Mechanical and Energy Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Nanomedicine Research, Institute for Research and Medical Consultations (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Sule Lamido University, Kafin Hausa 731, Nigeria.
⁷ Smart Sensors Laboratory, Department of Electronic Materials Technology, National University of Science and Technology MISiS, 119049 Moscow, Russia.
⁸ Laboratory of Magnetic Films Physics, SSPA Scientific and Practical Materials Research Centre of NAS of Belarus, 19, P. Brovki Str., 220072 Minsk, Belarus.
⁹ Department of Chemistry, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Bharath University, Chennai 600073, Tamil Nadu, India.

Abstract

Co-Ni ferrite is one of the crucial materials for the electronic industry. A partial substitution with a rare-earth metal brings about modification in crystal lattice and broadens knowledge in the discovery of new magnetic material. Current work reports a Ga³⁺ substitution in the Co-Ni ferrite with composition Co_0.5Ni_0.5Fe_2-xGa_xO₄ (where x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0), herein referred to as spinel ferrite microspheres (CoNiGa-SFMCs). The samples were crystallized hydrothermally showing a hollow sphere morphology. The crystal phase, magnetic, morphology, and optical behaviour were examined using various microscopy and spectroscopic tools. While the XRD confirmed the phase of SFMCs, the crystallite size varied between 9 and 12 nm. The Tauc plot obtained from DRS (diffuse reflectance spectroscopy) shows the direct optical energy bandgap (E_g) of the products, with the pristine reading having the value of 1.41 eV E_g; the band gap increased almost linearly up to 1.62 eV along with rising the Ga³⁺ amount. The magnetic features, on the other hand, indicated the decrease in coercivity (H_c) as more Ga³⁺ is introduced. Moreover, there was a gradual increase in both saturation magnetization (M_s) and magnetic moment (nB) with increasing amount of Ga³⁺ till x = 0.6 and then a progressive decline with increases in the x content; this was ascribed to the spin-glass-like behavior at low temperatures. It was detected that magnetic properties correlate well with crystallite/particle size, cation distribution, and anisotropy.

Keywords: BET analysis; magnetic features; nanocrystalline structure; nanospinel ferrites.

Grants and funding

Y.S.: M.A.A. and A.B. acknowledge the support provided by the Deanship for Scientific Research of Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (Project application No. 2020-164-IRMC). A.V.T. thanks NUST MISIS for support within the framework of the «Priority 2030» (K6-2022-043).