ARTICLE IN PRESS

Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 322 (2010) 2777–2781

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmmm

Effect of Nd3 + substitution on structural and electrical properties of

nanocrystalline zinc ferrite
T.J. Shinde a,n, A.B. Gadkari b, P.N. Vasambekar c
a
Department of Physics, KRP Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Islampur 415409, India
b
Department of Physics, G.K.G College, Kolhapur 416012, India
c
Department of Electronics, Shivaji University, Kolhapur 416004, India

a r t i c l e in fo abstract

Article history: Polycrystalline soft ferrite samples with general formula ZnNdxFe2  xO4 (where x¼ 0, 0.01, 0.02 and
Received 3 December 2009 0.03) were synthesized by oxalate co-precipitation method. The samples were characterized by XRD
Received in revised form and SEM techniques. The single phase cubic spinel structure of all the samples was confirmed by XRD.
11 April 2010
The lattice constant and grain size of the samples are found to decrease with increase in Nd3 + content.
Available online 24 April 2010
Room temperature DC resistivity of the Nd3 + substituted zinc ferrites is 102 times higher than that of
Keywords: zinc ferrite. The dielectric constant (e0 ) and dielectric loss (tan d) of all the samples were measured in
Zn–Nd ferrites the frequency range 20 Hz–1 MHz. The dielectric behaviour is attributed to the Maxwell–Wagner type
Co-precipitation method interfacial polarization. The dielectric loss of the samples is found to decrease with increase in Nd3 +
DC resistivity
content. High resistivity and low dielectric loss makes these ferrites particularly suitable for high
Dielectric property
frequency applications.
& 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Zinc ferrite is an important technological material with wide
applications in photoinduced electron transfer, photo electro-
chemical cells, photochemical hydrogen production [1,2] and
regenerable absorbent material for desulphurization of hot coal
gases [3,4].This ferrite is also used in electronic devices, photo-
conductive materials, information storage and sensors [5–8].
Recently nanoparticles and films of ZnFe2O4 have been prepared
to detect certain kinds of reducing gases, such as sulfureted
hydrogen [9], carbon monoxide [10], chlorine [11] and ethanol
[12]. Chu et al. [13] reported that ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles have
great response to reducing gases. Zhang et al. [14] reported the
use of ZnFe2O4 tubes as a gas sensor with high sensitivity and
low-energy consumption. Niu et al. [11] prepared zinc ferrite by
microemulsion method. They reported that ZnFe2O4 sensors have
a high sensitivity, excellent selectivity and quick response
behaviour to Cl2 gas compared with ZnCo2O4 and ZnCr2O4
sensors. Zheng et al. [15] studied gas sensing properties of
nanocrystalline zinc ferrite thin films. They reported that it is a
promising sensor material.
Generally ferrites were prepared by conventional ceramic
method. This method requires high sintering temperature which
may cause evaporation of zinc in zinc substituted ferrites and
changes the desired stiochiometry and also affects the electrical
as well as magnetic properties [16,17].
In recent years, a number of chemical and physical methods have
been attempted to produce nanosize ferrites. Various chemical
methods such as co-precipitation [18], sol–gel [19], molten salt-
route [20], ultrasonic radiation [21], tartrate precursor [22],
electrodeposition [23], urea combustion [24], aerogel [25], mechan-
ochemical [26], etc. have been developed to synthesize nanosized
zinc ferrites.
The co-precipitation technique is a useful and attractive
technique for the preparation of nanosized particles because of
its advantages like good stoichiometric control and the produc-
tion of ultrafine particles with low sintering temperature and
smaller duration [27,28].
Several reports are available on the magnetic properties of
nanocrystalline zinc ferrites [26,29–31]. However the structural
and electrical properties of Nd3 + substituted nanocrystalline zinc
ferrites prepared by co-precipitation technique have not been
investigated in detail. In the present communication, the effect of
Nd3 + substitution on structural and electrical properties of
nanocrystalline zinc ferrite prepared by oxalate co-precipitation
method is reported.
2. Experimental

n
Corresponding author. Mob.: 9860735543; fax: + 91 2342 224094 Ferrite samples with chemical formula ZnNdxFe2  xO4
E-mail address: pshindetj@yahoo.co.in (T.J. Shinde). (x ¼0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03) were prepared by oxalate

0304-8853/$ - see front matter & 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jmmm.2010.04.026
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
2778 T.J. Shinde et al. / Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 322 (2010) 2777–2781
co-precipitation technique. Analytical grade zinc sulphate
(ZnSO4  7H2O, 99.5% pure), ferrous sulphate (FeSO4  7H2O, 98.5%
pure) and neodymium sulphate (Nd2(SO4)3  8H2O, 99.9% pure)
were used as starting materials. These chemicals were weighed in
desired stoichiometric proportion and dissolved in distilled water.
The pH of the solution was adjusted to be 4.7 using conc. H2SO4.
The solution was then heated at 80 1C for 2 h. After cooling the
solution, ammonium oxalate solution was added with stirring
until complete precipitation was obtained. The precipitation of
the zinc ferrites occurred according to the following reactions:
ZnSO4 + 2H2O + C2O24  -ZnC2O42H2O + SO24 
NdSO4 +2H2O+C2O24  -NdC2O42H2O+SO24 
2FeSO4 +2H2O + C2O24  -Fe2C2O42H2O+ 2SO24 
The precipitate was filtered and washed several times with
glass distilled water, in order to remove the sulphate ions.
The removal of sulphate ions was confirmed by barium chloride
test. The precipitate was dried and presintered at 600 1C for
1 h. The presintered powder was milled in agate mortar
and sintered at 1000 1C for 4 h. The rate of heating and cooling
was 80 1C/h. The sintered powder was again milled and
mixed with an appropriate amount of 2 wt% polyvinyl alcohol
as a binder and pressed into pellets of 1.3 cm diameter at a
pressure of 5.27  10  7 MPa. The pellets were finally sintered at
1000 1C for 4 h.
The X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) patterns were obtained at
room temperature by using a Philips PW-3710 X-ray powder
diffractometer operated at 40 kV and 30 mA using CuKa radiation
(l ¼1.5424 Å). The diffraction patterns were recorded in angular
range 20–801.
The scanning electron microscope (JEOL-JSM-6360 model) was
used to record microphotographs of all the samples. DC resistivity
measurements of all the samples in the range 300–800 K were
Fig. 1. X-ray diffraction patterns of ZnNdxFe1  xO4 (x¼ 0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03)
system.
carried out by using two probe method. The dielectric constant
(e0 ) and dielectric loss (tan d) of all the samples in the pellet form
were measured using a HP 4284 A impedance analyzer in the
frequency range 20 Hz–1 MHz at room temperature.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Structural analysis by XRD and SEM
The X-ray diffraction patterns of powders of ZnNdxFe2 xO4 (x¼0,
0.01, 0.02 and 0.03) system are presented in Fig. 1. The patterns of all
the samples indicate the formation of single spinel phase with cubic
structure. The variation of lattice parameter (a) as a function of Nd3+
content is shown in Fig. 2. From this figure, it is observed that the
lattice parameter decreases with increase in Nd3+ content. This is due
to the formation of isolating ultra-thin layer around the grains by
diffusion of some of the Nd3+ ions at the grain boundaries rather than
entering into the lattice, during the sintering process [32]. Reduction
in the lattice parameter of Nd3 + substituted Mg–Zn ferrites system
was reported by Ladgaonkar et al. [33], suggesting the occupancy of
Nd3+ ion on B-site. Zhao et al. [32] studied magnetic properties of
Re-substituted Ni–Mn ferrite nanocrystallites. They reported that the
lattice parameter decreases with rare earth (La3 + , Nd3 + and Gd3 + )
substituted samples compared to un-substituted sample.
The X-ray density (rx) of all the samples was calculated by
using the formula [34],
8M
rx ¼ ð1Þ
Na3
where M is the molecular weight, N is Avogadro’s constant.
Physical density (rp) of all the samples was measured by using
Archimedes principle. The percentage porosity (p) of all the
samples was calculated by using the relation [34],
rp
p ¼ 1 ð2Þ
rx
X- ray density, physical density and porosity of all the samples
under investigation are presented in Table 1. From this table, it is
revealed that the X-ray density increases with increase in Nd3 +
content. This is attributed to increased mass overtaking the
increased volume of the unit cell. Physical density of the samples
Fig. 2. Variation of lattice constant with Nd3 + content of ZnNdxFe1  xO4
(x ¼0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03) system.
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Table 1
Crystallite size (D), X-ray density (rx), physical density (rp), porosity (P), grain size (Dg), room temperature resistivity (r) and dielectric loss (tan d) data of ZnNdxFe2  xO4
(x¼ 0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03) system.

Nd3 + content Crystallite size D (nm) X-ray Physical Porosity Grain Room temperature resistivity r Activation Dielectric loss
x density density P (%) size (Om) energy tan d
rx (g/cm3) rp (g/cm3) Dg (mm) DE (eV K  1)
100 Hz 1 kHz

4
0 29.8 5.31 5.21 1.80 0.58 4.1  10 0.56 0.31 0.10
0.01 30.4 5.34 5.14 3.63 0.53 1.2  106 0.58 0.13 0.09
0.02 30.6 5.36 5.15 3.81 0.48 4.0  106 0.64 0.12 0.05
0.03 31.5 5.39 5.31 1.45 0.38 7.4  106 0.71 0.10 0.05

Fig. 3. Microphotographs of ZnNdxFe1  xO4 (x¼ 0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03) system.

under investigation is 97% to that of theoretical density and the
porosity lies in the range 1.45% to 3.8%. The average crystallite size of
the samples was determined from the (3 1 1) peak, using Debye–
Scherrer equation [35] and is presented in Table 1. It is observed that
the crystallite size of the samples lies in the range 30–32 nm.
The microphotographs of fractured pellets of ZnNdxFe2  xO4
(x¼0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03) system are presented in Fig. 3. The
average grain size of all the samples was calculated by using the
formula [36],
1:5L
Dg ¼
MN
where, L is the total test line length on the microphotograph, M is
the magnification and N is the total number of intercepts.
The average grain size of all the samples under investigation is
presented in Table 1. It shows that the grain size of the samples
decreases with increase in Nd3 + content. We [34] observed
similar result for Ni0.6Zn0.4NdyFe2  yO4 (y¼0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03)
system. Kolekar et al. [37] and Costa et al. [38] also observed
similar results for Gd3 + substituted Cu–Cd ferrites and Sm3 +
substituted Ni–Zn ferrites, respectively.
3.2. Electrical properties
3.2.1. Resistivity
The variation in the normalized electrical resistivity (log r/ro)
against reciprocal of temperature (103/T) for all the samples under
investigation is presented in Fig. 4. The figure shows that the
normalized electrical resistivity of all the samples decreases with
increase in temperature, suggesting the semiconducting nature of
the samples. The temperature dependence of normalized
resistivity is found to follow the Arrhenius relation [39],
ð3Þ
r ¼ ro eðD=kTÞ ð4Þ
where ro is resistivity at room temperature, k is the Boltzman
constant (8.617  10  5 eV K  1), DE is the activation energy and
T is the absolute temperature.
The activation energy of all the samples corresponding to
paramagnetic regions is calculated by using Arrhenius relation
and plot of (log r/ro) verses (103/T). The calculated activation
energy in paramagnetic region is presented in Table 1. It is found
that the activation energy increases with increase in Nd3 +
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Fig. 4. Variation of the normalized electrical resistivity (log r/ro) against

reciprocal of temperature (103/T) for ZnNdxFe1  xO4 (x ¼0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03)
system. Fig. 5. Variation of dielectric constant with frequency for ZnNdxFe1  xO4
(x ¼0, 0.01, 0. 02 and 0.03) system.

content. From Fig. 4, it is also observed that the normalized

resistivity of the samples increases with increase in Nd3 + content.
The conduction in ferrites is due to hopping of electrons between
Fe2 + and Fe3 + ions [40]. It is reported that Zn2 + ions prefer the
occupation of tetrahedral (A) sites; Nd3 + ions prefer the occupa-
tion of octahedral (B) sites [34], while Fe3 + ions partially occupy
the A and B sites. On increasing Nd3 + content, the Fe3 + ion
concentration at B-site decreases. Due to this, the number of Fe2 +
and Fe3 + ions responsible for electric conduction in ferrites,
decrease at B-site. This results in increasing resistivity with
increase in Nd3 + content. In this ferrite, another reason for
increase in resistivity on increasing Nd3 + content is that, the Nd3 +
ions in B-site do not participate in the conduction processes due
to its stable valency [32]. Several researchers have shown that the
resistivity of the rare earth substituted ferrites increases with
increase in rare earth ions [32,41–43]. Room temperature DC
resistivity of all the samples under investigation is presented in
Table 1. It is observed that the room temperature resistivity of
Nd3 + substituted Zn ferrites (x ¼0.01, 0.02 and 0.03) is 102 times
higher than that of Zn ferrite (x ¼0). Higher resistivity of the
samples under investigation is also attributed to its smaller grain
size. Small grains imply larger number of insulating grain
boundaries and hence greater energy barriers to electron
conduction thereby resulting in higher resistivity [44].

3.2.2. Dielectric behaviour
The variation of real part of the dielectric constant (e0 ) with
frequency for ZnNdxFe2  xO4 system is shown in Fig. 5. From
this figure it is seen that the dielectric constant initially decreases
rapidly with increase in frequency and decreases slowly at
higher frequency. The decrease in dielectric constant with
increase in frequency is a normal dielectric behaviour of soft
ferrites. This behaviour is also observed by several other
investigators [45–48]. The variation of dielectric constant with
frequency reveals the dispersion due to Maxwell–Wanger type
interfacial polarization, which is in agreement with Koop’s
phenomenological theory [49]. According to this model, the
dielectric material is supposed to be composed of two layers.
The large ferrite grains (first layer) of fairly well-conducting
Fig. 6. Variation of dielectric loss with frequency for ZnNdxFe1  xO4 (x¼ 0, 0.01,
0.02 and 0.03) system.
materials are separated by grain boundaries (second layer) of
relatively poor conducting substance. The first layers are strongly
effective at higher frequencies and second layers are dominant at
lower frequencies. From Fig. 5, it is also observed that dielectric
constant is higher for Nd3 + substituted zinc ferrites than zinc
ferrites. Similar result has been reported by Bharathi and
Markandeyulu [50] for Gd3 + substituted nickel ferrite.
The variation of dielectric loss (tan d) with frequency for
samples under investigation is presented in Fig. 6. It shows
abnormal dielectric behaviour, giving a peak at certain frequency.
From Fig. 6, it is clear that the dielectric loss decreases rapidly
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