Abstract
A thin film of cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) was successfully deposited through nebulizer assisted spray pyrolysis technique. Composition of elements in the thin film plays an important role in determining its magnetic properties. Significant changes in the structural and magnetic properties can be observed in the CoFe2O4 thin films when doped with rare earth elements making it suitable for the applications in magnetic and related devices. Undoped and neodymium-doped CoFe2O4 thin films were prepared through nebulizer assisted spray pyrolysis (NSP) method on bare glass substrates by changing the percentage of Nd doping level from 0 to 5% atomic weight. Standard characterization techniques were used to analyze the deposited films to reveal the effect of doping. Crystallite size is estimated from x-ray diffraction spectra, and is observed to be of the order of 14 nm. The size of the crystallites in the film seems to decrease with the increase in doping concentration. The optical band gap value shows an increase and gets shifted from 1.82 to 1.95 eV on increasing the concentration of Nd doping. The saturation magnetization of the prepared CoFe2O4 films obtained at 0% and 5% show a strong dependence on the Nd doping concentration. This study shows that the Nd-doped CoFe2O4 films can compete with the existing materials for magnetic device applications.
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Acknowledgements
The author from KKU extend his appreciation to the research center for advance materials science (RCAMS), King Khalid University for funding this work under grant number RCAMS/KKU/ G014-21.
Funding
UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, University Grants Commission, CSR-IC-MSRSR-20/CRS-228/2021-22/634, Gunavathy K V.
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Arulanantham, A.M.S., Gunavathy, K.V., Antony, M. et al. Tuning the magnetic properties of neodymium (Nd)-doped cobalt ferrite thin films through nebulizer spray technique. Chem. Pap. 76, 6349–6358 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-022-02319-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-022-02319-5