Structural Studies of Sm/Zr Substituted Mg-Mn Ferrites

Two series of Sm/Zr substituted Mg-Mn ferrite materials have been developed having the chemical compositions Mg0.95Mn0.05Sm2xFe2-2xO4 and Mg0.95Mn0.05+xZrxFe2-2xO4. These materials nanoparticles size ferrites are prepared by using sol-gel method while following ceramic method bulk (larger particle size) ferries are prepared. The value of x varies from 0.0 to 0.5. These are characterized with density, XRD, EDAX, SEM and TEM studies. Based on the obtained results cation distribution is proposed. Samarium is found to occupy B sites while zirconium occupied A and B sites replacing Fe ions. Density of all the materials found to increase except at higher values of Sm concentration. Lattice parameter of Sm substituted ferrites is found to increase with the rise of Sm content while it decreases with the rise of Zr content. These values obtained due to XRD studies have fair agreement with the theoretically computed lattice parameter values based on the proposed cation distribution. Obtained particle size values due to XRD, SEM and TEM are compared, which are in the nano range.