Synthesis and Characterization of Sol–Gel Auto Combustion-Derived Ce/Zr-Substituted Strontium Hexaferrite Nanoparticles

In this work, Ce/Zr-substituted strontium hexaferrite (SrFe₁₂O₁₉) nanoparticles have been synthesized by the sol–gel auto combustion method and the synthesized samples were annealed at 900 ^∘C for 3 h. The powder XRD pattern revealed that all the diffraction peaks match the hexagonal phase of strontium hexaferrite and the lattice parameters are determined. The VSM study revealed that the values of saturation magnetization, coercivity and remanent magnetization are decreased for the Ce/Zr-substituted strontium hexaferrite sample. Thermal analysis reveals the formation of a hexagonal phase above 670 ^∘C. The specific vibration band of hexagonal ferrite was observed in the range 400–600 cm⁻¹. The FE-SEM image shows that the particles are spherical shaped and particle size varied from 37 to 44 nm.