Synthesis and characterization of yttrium iron garnet (YIG) nanoparticles - Microwave material

Magnetic Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG) nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared by sol-gel (SG) and solid-state (SS) reaction methods to elucidate the nanoscale size on the magnetic behavior of NPs. It is found that YIG prepared by these two methods are different in many ways. The average NP sizes prepared by SG and SS methods were calculated by Scherrer formula from XRD data. SEM images show the change in grain size for both types of NPs. The sintering temperature required to form pure garnet phase is 750 degrees C for SG and 1000 degrees C for SS NPs. The saturation magnetizations (Ms) were 1070 Oe for SG and 1125 Oe for SS NPs, respectively. The coercivity (Hc) of SS NPs are twice larger than SG NPs. This is due to the larger crystal sizes of the SS NPs, hence more crystal boundaries. Dynamic properties were studied by ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) technique in field-sweep and frequency-sweep mode at different fixed frequencies and at different fixed magnetic fields, respectively. Resonance field (Hr) observed to increase linearly with frequency both for SS and SG NPs. The stop-band bandwidth (frequency linewidth) is narrower for SG NPs in comparison to SS NPs. Microwave absorption property make this material as a strong candidate for microwave device applications. (C) 2016 Author(s).