Synthesis and structural, morphological, optical, and magnetic properties of rare earth Gd3+ doped Ni–Co nano ferrites

The Citrate Gel-Auto Combustion method was used to create chemical descriptions of nanocrystalline Ni-Co mixed spinel ferrites doped with gadolinium (Gd³⁺)as Ni_0.8Co_0.2Fe_2-xGd_xO₄ (X = 0.00, 0.02, 0.04, and 0.06) (NCGF). The structural, morphological, infrared, and magnetic characteristics were investigated for all prepared samples. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows the processed samples, free of any impurity phase,form a single-phase cubic spinel structure. The crystallite size was determined by Scherrer's formula; it was increased bydoping with Gd³⁺ content. The lattice parameter of all the samples wasraised, computed by using XRD data. The X-ray density was rising from 6.445 to 6.877 gm/cm³. The scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) was used to study surface morphology, and the grain size was determined to be between 29 and 56 nm. By the transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the average particle size was found to be between 35 and 45 nm. The samples' cubic spinel ferrite nature is demonstrated by the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) measurements, which show all strong absorption bands close to 593 cm⁻¹ and 3733 cm⁻¹. The magnetic behaviour of NCGF was studied by using a Vibration Sample Magnetometer (VSM). From the study,saturation magnetisation, coercivity, and remanence magnetisation were rises; however, the X = 0.00 sample compared to others, the coercivity was found to be the highest.