Structural and Mössbauer studies of nanocrystalline Mn4+-doped Li0.5Fe2.5O4 particles prepared by mechanical milling

H. M. Widatallah*, F. N. Al-Mabsali, F. S. Al-Hajri, N. O. Khalifa, A. M. Gismelseed, A. D. Al-Rawas, M. Elzain, A. Yousif

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

The structure and magnetic properties of spinel-related Mn4+-doped Li0.5Fe2.5O4 nanocrystalline particles of the composition Li0.5Fe2.25Mn0.1875O4, 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.

Original languageEnglish
Article number50
JournalHyperfine Interactions
Volume237
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 1 2016

Keywords

  • Defects
  • Lithium ferrites
  • Mössbauer spectroscopy
  • Nanoparticles
  • XRD

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

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