Structural and Mössbauer studies of nanocrystalline Mn⁴⁺-doped Li_0.5Fe_2.5O₄ particles prepared by mechanical milling

Abstract

The structure and magnetic properties of spinel-related Mn⁴⁺-doped Li_0.5Fe_2.5O₄ nanocrystalline particles of the composition Li_0.5Fe_2.25Mn_0.1875O₄, prepared by milling a pristine sample for different times, were investigated. The average crystallite and particle size, respectively, decreased form ∼40 nm to ∼10 nm and ∼2.5 μm to ∼10 nm with increasing milling time from 0 h to 70 h. Rietveld refinement of the XRD data of the non-milled sample show the Mn⁴⁺ dopant ions to substitute for Fe³⁺ at the octahedral B-sites of the spinel-related structure. The Mössbauer spectra of the milled ferrites indicate that more particles turn superparamagnetic with increasing milling time. The Mössbauer data collected at 78 K suggest that while in the non-milled sample the Mn⁴⁺ ions substitute for Fe³⁺ at the octahedral B-sites, this is reversed as milling proceeds with doped Mn⁴⁺ ions, balancing Fe³⁺ vacancies and possibly Li⁺ ions progressively migrate to the tetrahedral A-sites. This is supported by the slight increase observed in the magnetization of the milled samples relative to that of the non-milled one. The magnetic data suggest that in addition to the increasing superparamagentic component of the milled particles, thermal spin reversal and/or spin canting effects are possible at the surface layers of the nanoparticles.