Magnetic properties of FeMnyCoyFe2−2yO4@Oleylamine nanocomposite with cation distribution

Abstract

In this study, oleylamine (OAm) capped FeMnyCoyFe2−2yO4 (0.0 ≤ y ≤ 0.4) nanocomposites (NCs) were prepared via the polyol route and the impact of bimetallic Co3+ and Mn3+ ions on the structural and magnetic properties of Fe3O4 was investigated. The complete characterization of FeMnyCoyFe2−2yO4@OAm NCs were done by different techniques such as XRD, SEM, TGA, FT-IR, TEM, and VSM. XRD analyses proved the successful formation of mono-phase MnFe2O4 spinel cubic products free from any impurity. The average crystallite sizes were calculated in the range of 9.4–26.4 nm using Sherrer’s formula. Both SEM and TEM results confirmed that products are nanoparticles like structures having spherical morphology with small agglomeration. Ms continued to decrease up to Co3+ and Mn3+ content of y = 0.4. Although Mössbauer analysis reveals that the nanocomposites consist three magnetic sextets and superparamagnetic particles are also formed for Fe3O4, Co0.2Mn0.2Fe2.6O4 and Co0.4Mn0.4Fe2.2O4. Cation distributions calculation was reported that Co3+ ions prefer to replace Fe2+ ions on tetrahedral side up to all the concentration while Mn3+ ions prefer to replace Fe3+ ions on the octahedral.