Structural and morphological studies of manganese substituted CoFe2O4 and NiFe2O4 nanoparticles

Nanocrystalline manganese substituted cobalt and nickel ferrites have been synthesized through the evaporation method by using egg white. These powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The XRD pattern of manganese substituted spinel ferrites contains some impurity peaks, which are the decomposition of the ferrites to alpha-Fe2O3 phase at higher annealing temperature. The microstructure and particle size of the annealed sample analyzed by TEM, which gives the particle size well with XRD. The magnetic properties were measured using Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM). The surface/near-surface chemical states of the nanocrystalline manganese substituted cobalt and nickel ferrites are analyzed by XPS within a range of binding energies of 0-1000 eV. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.