Abstract
We investigate here the effect of holmium on Li–Co nano-ferrites to elaborate the surface morphology, dynamic magnetic and electrical transport properties. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique was employed to examine the microstructure and grain size distribution. TEM analysis confirmed the nanocrystalline nature (~50 nm) of the prepared materials. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) experiment results verify the presence of all metal ions with the required valences. Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) analysis revealed the need for a dense microstructure to cut down the microwave losses. FMR line width was observed to reduce from 2757 -to 1676 Oe except for x = 0.12 by the substitution of Ho ions which correspond to low microwave losses. The dc resistivity results show that high resistivity values are associated with smaller grains of the samples and vice versa. Resistivity values are found to increase from 3.66 × 108 -to 5.31 × 108 Ω-cm by increasing the Ho addition. Seebeck experiment revealed n-type conduction. Together with showing the nature of charge carriers, a decrease in the Seebeck coefficient with increasing Ho ensured the replacement of Fe ions by Ho ions on B-sites.