Enhanced structural and magnetic properties of microwave sintered Li-Ni-Co ferrites prepared by sol-gel method

The properties of lithium ferrites are very sensitive to chemical composition, synthesis method, and sintering techniques. Li-Ni-Co ferrites with compositional formula Li_0.45-0.5xNi_0.1Co_xFe_2.45-0.5xO₄, where 0.00 ≤ x ≤ 0.1 in steps of 0.02 were prepared by chemical sol-gel method and sintered by microwave sintering technique. The x-ray diffraction patterns confirmed the formation of single phase with spinel structure in all the samples. The structural parameter viz. lattice constant, crystallite size, and x-ray density for these samples were studied and compared with those measured from samples of similar composition prepared by the sol-gel method and sintered by conventional sintering technique. Enhancement in the magnetic properties like Curie temperature, hysteresis parameters was observed by employing sol-gel synthesis combined with microwave sintering. The results obtained and mechanisms involved are discussed in the paper.