Structural Rietveld refinement and magnetic features of prosademium (Pr) doped Cu nanocrystalline spinel ferrites

Pr doped spinel nanoferrites having following composition Cu Prx Fe2-xO4 (x = 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00) were synthesized using sol-gel route. Prosademium (Pr) which is a rare earth metal was doped to tailor the properties of the Cu spinel nanoferrites. Characterization tools such as FTIR, XRD, FESEM and VSM were employed to investigate the phase, absorption bands, structure, microstructure and magnetic properties. FTIR was used to see the absorption bands and force constants of the Pr doped Cu spinel nanoferrites. Crystallite size, lattice parameters, cell volume and micro strains were determined from XRD data. Bulk density, X-ray density and porosity of the Pr doped Cu spinel nanoferrites were also calculated. Rietveld refinement was applied to investigate the detailed structural parameters of the Pr doped Cu spinel nanoferrites. Unit cell software based on regression diagnostics was also used to determine the structural factors of the prepared nanoferrites. It was noticed that Cu nanoferrite showed the single-phase cubic structure whereas the Pr doped Cu ferrite depicted the orthorhombic structure respectively. FESEM show large amount of agglomerations at x = 0.00 whereas irregular shape of the particles confirms the nanosized of ferrites as well. Magnetic properties were determined from VSM which elaborated the remanence, coercivity, saturation magnetization, anisotropy constant (K), initial permeability, Bohr magneton and YK (Yafet and Kittel) angles. Magnetic saturation, coercivity, remanence and anisotropy constant were decreased with Pr concentration in Cu spinel ferrite. However, YK angles were increased with Pr doping in Cu spinel nanoferrites. Microwave frequency response was evaluated which confirm the use of these Pr doped Cu spinel nanoferrites in the range of 5.2 Ghz–9.5 GHz respectively. The properties of these Pr doped Cu spinel nanoferrites suggested their used for microwave devices, memory devices and recording media applications.