Synthesis of Nickel-doped Magnesium spinel ferrites (NixMg1-xFe2O4) nanomaterials and study of their structural, electrical and magnetic properties

The Solution-gelation self-ignition method was used to synthesize Nickel-doped Magnesium ferrite (MgFe2O4) nanoparticles with the formula NixMg1-xFe2O4, where x ranged from 0.00 to 0.20 with a step/sample of x = 0.05. Nickle was doped to tune the magnesium ferrite's dielectric and magnetic properties and the systematic effect of Ni on crystal structure, crystallite size, dielectric properties in high-frequency range, and magnetic properties was investigated. The prepared samples were annealed at 600 °C for 3 h and their electrical properties were investigated through pellets of each ferrite. The crystalline host material structure was confirmed using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) characterization, which showed a Face-centered cubic lattice (FCC) structure with a preferred orientation along the (311) plane. The crystallite size was found to be between 10 and 16 nm using Scherrer's formula, modified Scherrer's formula, Williamson-Hall's plot, and Size strain plot. FTIR analysis was used to identify the doped spinel ferrite nanomaterials and the spectral qualities were successfully verified. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to analyze the size of particles and their distribution. The magnetic properties of NixMg1-xFe2O4 were analyzed using the VSM technique between the field of −23 kOe to 23 kOe, and the remanent magnetization (Mr), coercive field (Hc), and saturation magnetization (Ms) were estimated. The dielectric properties of the host material were studied using an Impedance analyzer, which showed that the complex impedance (Z′ & Z″) decreased with an increasing frequency corresponding to the grain boundary action. The dielectric constant improved ferromagnetic resonance and dielectric loss-enhanced relaxations. The ac conductivity appeared to increase by increasing frequency. The dielectric studies suggested that Mg1-xNixFe2O4 nanoparticles would have potential applicability in many microwave devices.