Infrared Spectroscopic Study of Magnetic Behavior of Dysprosium Doped Magnetite Nanoparticles

Dysprosium doped magnetite (Fe 3− x Dy x O 4 with x = 0.0–0.1) nanoparticles have been synthesized using the co-precipitation method. Magnetic characterization using vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) has revealed an enhancement in the saturation magnetization with Dy 3+ doping. The occupancy of the dopant ions in magnetite lattice has been probed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The shifting of ν 2 (Fe–O) band at 452 cm − 1 for undoped samples to 443 cm − 1 for dysprosium-doped samples is indicative of occupancy of dysprosium at the octahedral site. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns have been used to calculate the strain and lattice constant. The strain is found to increase with doping level and attained a maximum value for the x = 0.03. This increase in the strain can be attributed to occupancy of large diameter Dy 3+ ions at the octahedral site of spinel structure of the magnetite lattice.