Mössbauer spectroscopic studies of NiZn ferrite prepared by the sol–gel method

Abstract

This study was aimed to study the effect of Zn content on the hyperfine parameters and the structural variation of Ni1-xZnxFe2O4 for x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8. To achieve this, a sol–gel route was used for the preparation of samples and the obtained ferrites were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The formation of spinel phase without any impurity peak was identified by X-ray diffraction of all the samples. Moreover, the estimated crystallite size by X-ray line broadening indicates a decrease with increasing Zn content. This result was in agreement with the scanning electron microscopy result, indicating the reduction in grain growth with further zinc substitution. The room-temperature Mössbauer spectra show that the hyperfine fields at both the A and B sites decreased with increasing Zn content; however, the rate of reduction is not the same for different sites. Moreover, the best fit parameter showed that the quadrupole splitting values of B site increased from the pure nickel ferrite to the sample with x = 0.8.