Effect of Al3+ substitution on structural, morphological, magnetic, optical, and functional study of ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles

M. Sundararajan ^{1, 2}

Kholod Dahlous ³

Manickam Ramesh ⁴

R. S. Rimal Isaac ⁵

S. Yuvaraj ⁶

Jothi Ramalingam Rajabathar ^{2, 3}

Chandra Sekhar Dash ⁷

Aji Udhaya Paul Raj ⁸

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PG and Research Department of Physics, Paavendhar College of Arts and Science 1 , M. V. South, Thalaivasal, Salem, Tamil Nadu 636 121,

2 Department of Chemistry, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, South Korea |

Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University 3 , P.O.Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, |

⁴

Department of Chemistry, Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science and Technology 4 , Vel Nagar, Avadi, Chennai 600 062, Tamil Nadu, |

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Department of Nanotechnology, Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education 5 , Kumaracoil, Kanyakumari 629180, Tamilnadu,

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Department of Physics, Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science and Technology 6 , Vel Nagar, Avadi, Chennai 600 062, Tamil Nadu, |

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Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Centurion University of Technology and Management 7 , Odisha, Bhubaneswar 752050, |

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Department of Physics, Holy Cross College 8 , Nagercoil 629004, Tamil Nadu, |

Publication type: Journal Article

Publication date: 2025-02-01

AIP Publishing

Journal: AIP Advances

scimago Q3

SJR: 0.337

CiteScore: 2.8

Impact factor: 1.4

ISSN: 21583226

DOI: 10.1063/5.0237471

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Abstract

ZnFe1−xAlxO4 (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5) samples were synthesized by the combustion method. The x-ray diffraction pattern confirms that the ferrite samples have a cubic inverse spinel structure, and Rietveld refinement adds more weight to this conclusion. Furthermore, the space group is Fd3̄m. Using Rietveld analysis, the oxygen location, lattice parameter, and cation distribution were found, proving that Al doped ZnFe2O4 ferrites were present in every sample. According to structural research, when the Al3+ concentration increases, the crystallite size decreases (15–29 nm) but the lattice parameter increases (8.399–8.418 Å). The FE-SEM images are agglomerated for all the ferrite samples. The estimated energy gap (1.83–2.05 eV) increases as the doping concentration is increased. The FT-IR spectrum revealed the formation of Al doped ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles, and vibrating sample magnetometry showed the ferromagnetic behavior.