Sol–gel combustion derived novel ternary transition metal boride-anisotropic magnetic powders and their magnetic property

Abstract

We investigated the auto-ignition based sol–gel approach for the synthesis of ternary transition metal boride (TTMB) powders and studied their magnetic property. The obtained TTMB powders were found to have different crystallinity and magnetic behavior, based on the boron to metal ratio and further introduction of dysprosium into one of the sample lattice. The magnetic results obtained by vibrating sample magnetometer shows that TTMB is a soft magnet which demonstrates high ferromagnetic behavior with increased magnetic saturation based on the boron content, while the dysprosium based TTMB on contrary was found to exhibit an antiferromagnetic behavior. The TTMB powder showed no impurities as observed in Raman spectroscopy. The morphology of the powders obtained microscopically displays distinctive facets in the crystalline samples. The TTMB powders can be prospectively used in different polymer matrix to fabricate novel devices for sensors, environmental catalysts, radiation shielding and contrasting agents etc., to name a few.