Study of Influence of Precursor Decomposition on Oxide and Wet Chemical Methods in Synthesis of Ni?Zn Ferrites

Nickel zinc ferrite of composition Ni0.6Zn0.4Fe2O4 was prepared by two different routes using solid oxides of nickel, zinc and iron in the first and their nitrates in solution in second method. These two mixtures were treated with the same ligand to produce the precursors. These two precursors were then decomposed to obtain nano size ferrites. The study was carried out to see the influence of the precursor decomposition on structural, electrical and magnetic properties on both these routes of synthesis on NiZn ferrite samples. The powders were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and magnetic measurement of hysteresis curves. The X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that the samples in both decomposition produced single phase spinel structure crystalline nano ferrite powders. The lattice parameter for oxide method was found to be lower with smaller crystallite size in comparison to wet chemical method. The average crystallite size was 17 and 46 nm and saturation magnetization was 33.17 and 58.24 emu/g, respectively, for the samples obtained from oxides and nitrates. The samples synthesized with nitrates in wet chemical method showed better magnetic properties.