Structural, Magnetic and Microwave Properties of Nanocrystalline Ni-Co-Gd Ferrites

A series of Co- and Gd-substituted NiFe2O4 ferrite nanoparticles with the formula Ni1−x Co x Fe2−y Gd y O4 (where x = 0.0–1.0 and y = 0.0–0.1) have been successfully synthesized using a hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscopy results indicated that a highly crystallized spherical ferrite nanoparticle structure was obtained along with an increase in the lattice parameters. Compositional analysis of the prepared nanoferrite powders has been carried out using energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX) spectra. The EDX analysis reveals the presence of Ni, Co, Gd and Fe elements in the specimens. Magnetization and the coercive field improved dramatically with an increase in the amount of cobalt and gadolinium added, attributed to the redistribution of cations in the spinel nanoferrite structure. Saturation magnetization and coercivity values up to 99 emu/g and 918 Oe, respectively, were measured using a vibration sample magnetometer at room temperature. Comparative microwave absorption experiments demonstrated that the reflection loss (RL) properties enhanced with increasing substitution of cations in the Ni-ferrite spinel structure for an absorber thickness of 1.8 mm. A maximum RL of − 26.7 dB was obtained for substituted Ni-Co-Gd nanoferrite with x = 1.0 and y = 0.1 at a frequency of 9.4 GHz with a bandwidth of 3.6 GHz (RL ≤ − 10 dB). Experimental results revealed that the synthesized nanoparticles possessed great potential in microwave absorption applications.