STRUCTURAL AND MICROSTRUCTURAL INVESTIGATIONS ON AL DOPED Y3Fe5O12 GARNET NANOPARTICLES SYNTHESIZED BY SOL-GEL AUTO COMBUSTION TECHNIQUE

In the present investigation, we have successfully synthesized Y3Fe2-xAlxO12 (x=0.00, 0.20 and 0.40) nanoparticles by sol–gel auto combustion method. The produced phases were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD. Particles of uniform size around 22–30 nm were obtained in the cubic structure of the prepared samples. Various structural parameters such as lattice constant (a), X-ray density (dx) etc. were calculated from the XRD data. The variation of these structural parameters in Al composition has been studied. The lattice constant decreases while X-ray density increases with increasing Al content x. FTIR spectra show typical absorption bands indicating the formation of garnet structure of the samples. Upon aluminium substitution, absorption bands broadened and shifted towards higher wavenumber