Sahi Ram^1,, Shailndra Singh¹

Rare earth dysprosium substituted spinel ferrites with a composition of Zn_0.5Mg_0.5Dy_xFe_2-xO₄ (x = 0.0, 0.02, 0.10 and 0.20) were synthesized by the solid-state reaction method. X-ray diffraction studies revealed the formation of single-phase cubic structures for all compositions. The lattice constant and crystallite size varied with increasing Dy³⁺ content in the Zn-Mg ferrite. ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopic studies were carried out to determine the chemical state of iron, its occupancy and relative amount in tetrahedral (A) sites, octahedral (B) sites or both. The obtained value of relative amount of iron in the tetrahedral (A) site, octahedral (B) site or both was used to obtain the cation distribution at the tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (B) sites. The cation distribution was used to determine the cation-cation distances, cation-anion distances and inter-ionic bond angles to understand the spin interactions and the impact of Dy³⁺ ion substitution on magnetic interactions in substituted Zn-Mg ferrites.

spinel ferrite, cation distribution, Mössbauer spectroscopy, magnetic materials