Effect of manganese doping on the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of zinc ferrite

Abstract

MnxZn1-xFe2O4 ferrites with x = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 were successfully prepared with the solvothermal method. The structural characteristics, morphology and magnetic properties of the composite powders were obtained with X-ray diffraction (XRD), a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a vibrating-sample magnetometer (VSM). The results show that MnxZn1-xFe2O4 ferrite has a pure cubic spinel structure with a particle size of about 200-300 nm. Ethylene glycol plays an important role during the formation of monodisperse particles. Synthesized particles exhibit ferromagnetic behavior with a small hysteresis at room temperature. Ms reaches the maximum value of 71.99 emu/g when the amount of manganese ions is x = 0.6. At 600 s, the temperature of Mn0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4 can rise to 69.9 °C, showing an excellent magnetocaloric effect.