Effect of heating temperature on structural and magnetic properties of zinc ferrite nanoparticles synthesized for the first time in presence of Moroccan reagents

In this study, nanoparticles of ZnFe2O4 were prepared at low temperatures by the coprecipitation method and for the first time using non-standard Moroccan reagents. The formation of Zinc Ferrite was confirmed by structural characterization techniques XRD and FTIR. From XRD data, the pure ZnFe2O4 phase was obtained at low temperatures (400 and 500 degrees C), with a cubic spinel structure (space group Fd3m). In addition, from Rietveld analysis the coordinates of the atomic positions of the Fe and Zn atoms remain the same in all pure samples. The cationic distribution estimated in this work reveals that the ZnFe2O4 synthetized has become mixed spinel where Zn2+ and Fe3+ cations are distributed in both crystallographic sites. Analysis of FTIR spectra showed two absorption bands characteristic of Tetrahedral (Td) and Octahedral (Oh) sites observed in spinel structure. The morphological study by TEM images indicates that most of the nano particles have a uniform shape and the average nanoparticle size is 16 nm. The magnetic properties of the nanoparticles were studied using MPMS, these magnetic measurements illustrate a superparamagnetic and ferrimagnetic behavior of zinc ferrite at 300 K and 5 K, respectively. The normal spinel zinc ferrite was subjected to a DFT study to investigate its most probable magnetic ground state and its corresponding electronic structure using the GGA and GGA + U methods. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles were successfully prepared at low temperatures using the coprecipitation method with non-standard Moroccan reagents. Structural characterization techniques confirmed the formation of Zinc Ferrite, with a mixed spinel structure revealed by cationic distribution analysis. The nanoparticles exhibit superparamagnetic and ferrimagnetic behavior at different temperatures, and a DFT study was conducted to investigate the magnetic ground state and electronic structure of the material.