The individual lattices in the images are separately indexed to the projected (220) and (311) planes of the cubic click here spinel structure of ferrites. Figure 1 TEM analysis of the ferrite nanocrystals. TEM images of (a) Zn ferrite, (b) Mn ferrite, and (c) Mn-Zn ferrite. HRTEM images of (d) Zn ferrite, (e) Mn ferrite, and (f) Mn-Zn ferrite. The structural information on the nanocrystals is further acquired by XRD analysis. Figure 2 illustrates the XRD patterns of the three types of the ferrite nanocrystals. All
XRD diffractions show the typical peaks of the spinel structure, such as (220), (311), and (400), without any other unexpected peaks from by-products like MnO, ZnO, or other metal oxide forms. The results clearly indicate that all nanocrystals
were properly synthesized in ferrite forms. Tipifarnib Moreover, it is observable that the peaks in the XRD patterns are shifted to lower angles slightly as the concentration of Zn increases. Selleckchem PLX4032 For example, the positions of the (311) peaks are 35.41° for Mn ferrite, 35.28° for Mn-Zn ferrite, and 35.23° for Zn ferrite, separately. According to the Bragg’s law, the reduced angle of the diffraction peaks originated from the increased lattice spacing. In fact, a Zn2+ ion has the radius of 0.88 Å, which is larger than the radius of an Fe2+ ion (0.75 Å) and Mn2+ ion (0.81 Å), so the increasing of Zn2+ ion substitution leads to the expansion of the lattice spacing. Consequently, the phenomenon as observed above corroborates that the Zn2+ and Mn2+ ions were successfully doped in the relevant ferrite nanocrystals. Figure 2 XRD diffraction patterns for the ferrite nanocrystals. (a) Zn ferrite, (b) Mn-Zn ferrite, and (c) Mn ferrite. Table 1 summarizes the chemical Phosphoprotein phosphatase compositions of the ferrite nanocrystals analyzed by XRF and TEM-EDS. The XRF data report the atomic ratio of the nanocrystals in a large quantity, while the EDS data present the composition of a singular particle. Nonetheless, both data show a close match in the chemical composition. Compared with the precursor ratios, the XRF and EDS data reveal no substantial difference
of Zn and Mn of the resultant nanocrystals from the one designed originally. Thus, the composition formulas are described as Zn0.9Fe2.1O4 for Zn ferrite, Mn0.6Fe2.4O4 for Mn ferrite, and Mn0.3Zn0.5Fe2.2O4 for Mn-Zn ferrite. Table 1 Chemical compositions of the ferrite nanocrystals Precursor molar ratio XRF (at.%) EDS (at.%) Zn ferrite Fe 2 71.3 70.9 Zn 1 28.7 29.1 Mn ferrite Fe 2 77.7 79.7 Mn 1 22.3 20.3 Mn-Zn ferrite Fe 4 74.4 78.6 Zn 1 15.2 11.8 Mn 1 10.4 9.6 Figure 3a,b records the hysteresis curves obtained from PPMS at 5 and 300 K, respectively. At 5 K, the ferrite nanocrystals show ferrimagnetic behavior with a coercivity of about 300 Oe and the corresponding magnetizations at 30 kOe are 47.4 emu/g for Zn ferrite, 55.7 emu/g for Mn-Zn ferrite, and 62.