Influence of Nd3+ substitution on structural, electrical and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline nickel ferrites

Highlights: ► Nickel ferrite is technologically important magnetic material extensively used in high frequency applications such as microwave device due to its high resistivity and sufficiently low losses. Nowadays an important modification in both electrical and magnetic properties can be obtained by introducing relatively small amount of rare earth ion. We observed significant modification in electrical and magnetic properties in Nd3+ substituted nickel ferrites as compared to pure nickel ferrites. Therefore such a ferrite is more useful in electronics devices. - Abstract: Polycrystalline ferrite samples of NiNdxFe2−xO4 (where x = 0, 0.01, 0.02, and 0.03) system were synthesized by oxalate co-precipitation method and characterized by XRD, IR and SEM techniques. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the formation of single phase cubic spinel structure. The lattice constant of all the samples found to increase with increase in Nd3+ content. Crystallite size of the samples lies in the range 29.8–31 nm. Infrared spectra show two strong absorption bands in the frequency range 400–600 cm−1, which were respectively attributed to tetrahedral and octahedral sites of the spinel. DC electrical resistivity of Nd3+ substituted nickel ferrites is higher than nickel ferrite. Saturation magnetization of the samples increases with increase in Nd3+content.