Tailoring of the Magnetic and Structural Properties of Nanosized Ferrites

Spinel ferrites are porous ceramics with remarkable electrical and magnetic properties. They belong to a technologically important class of magnetic materials which have high resistivity and chemical stability. These properties make them suitable for a wide variety of applications, where other magnetic materials cannot be used. Magnetic, electric, and structural properties of ferrites are tunable. These are currently of great research interest due to the ease of tailoring their magnetic properties by systematic substitution of cations and by proper choice of preparation techniques and post preparation treatments. The Cr3+cations have a strong preference to occupy in the B-site and have an affinity for anti-ferromagnetic coupling with Fe ions. Thus, partial or total substitution of one of the cations with Cr induces magnetic frustrations in the spinel ferrite system, which leads to interesting magnetic properties. Therefore, it is very interesting to study variation in magnetic properties on replacement of Cr in the place of Fe in spinel ferrites. This chapter explains tailoring of magnetic and structural properties of some spinel ferrites via solution-self-combustion, fuel-to-oxidizer ratio substitution, and proper substitution.