Magnetic behavior and site occupancy in Fe-doped In2O3 nanoparticles

(In1-xFex)(2)O-3 monophasic nanoparticles were prepared by a freeze-drying process followed by heat treatment after which they were characterized by magnetization measurements and Mo & BULL;ssbauer spectroscopy at tempera-tures ranging from 300 to 4.2 K. The iron cations were trivalent and substituted for the indium cations in both cationic sites, 24d and 8b, of the oxide matrix, showing an occupancy preference that depends on x. Two different magnetic regimes were observed after varying the temperature of the doped samples, and both correlated with the iron magnetic moments. At room temperature, the moments at the site 24d were partially ordered with ferromagnetic alignment, whereas those at the site 8b showed paramagnetic behavior. After decreasing the temperature, both sublattices become progressively ordered and more robustly below 50 K.

Automated summary

Monophasic nanoparticles of (In1-xFex)(2)O-3 were prepared by freeze-drying and heat treatment, where iron cations substituted for indium cations in the oxide matrix. Different magnetic behaviors were observed at varying temperatures, correlating with iron magnetic moments.