Influence of PVA, PVP and PEG doping on the optical, structural, morphological and magnetic properties of zinc ferrite nanoparticles produced by thermal method

This work demonstrated an in-depth investigation of the effect of surface doping by three different polymers on the synthesis of zinc ferrite nanostructures by a thermal method. The zinc ferrites were doped with 20% concentration by mass of Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and Polyethylene glycol (PEG) to enhance its properties. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) confirmed the incorporation of the polymers in the lattice with an obvious increase in the crystallite size, functional groups, spherical morphology, and superparamagnetic behavior respectively. It is noteworthy that the cubic crystalline structure, favorable particle size and magnetic properties of the doped samples gave the NPs a controllable and improved properties for sundry applications in the medical fields such as Hyperthermia and drug delivery with PEG dopant showing a towering leverage on the properties of the ZF with 11% polydispersity Index (PDI).