Abstract
•Single-phase Ni0.3Cu0.3Zn0.4TmxFe2−xO4 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.10) nanospinel ferrites were synthesized via sonochemcial approach.•The optical band gap energy Eg increased with the increase in Tm3+ content.•Magnetic properties revealed superparamagnetic property at room temperature and soft ferromagnetic nature at 10 K.•Tm3+ substitutions significantly affect the magnetizations data of NiCuZn nanoferrite.•A decreasing trend in the Ms, Hc, Mr, and nB values was detected with Tm3+ substitution.
In this study, Tm3+ ion substituted NiCuZn nanospinel ferrites, Ni0.3Cu0.3Zn0.4TmxFe2−xO4 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.10), have been synthesized sonochemically. The structural, spectroscopic, morphological, optic and magnetic investigation of the samples were done by X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry (FT-IR), UV–Vis diffused reflectance (%DR) spectrophotometry, transmission and scanning electron microscopies (TEM and SEM) along with EDX, Vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), respectively. The purity of prepared products were confirmed via XRD, FT-IR, EDX and elemental mapping analyses. The analyses of magnetization versus M(H) (applied magnetic field) were performed at 300 and 10 K. The following magnetic parameters like Ms (saturation magnetization), SQR = Mr/Ms (squareness ratio), nB(magnetic moment), Hc (coercivity) and Mr (remanence) have been discussed. M(H) loops revealed superparamagnetic property at RT and soft ferromagnetic nature at 10 K. It is showed that the Tm3+ substitutions significantly affect the magnetizations data. A decreasing trend in the Ms, Hc, Mr, and nB values was detected with Tm3+ substitution.