Tailoring the microstructural, magnetic and dielectric properties of vanadium ions substituted nickel ferrite nanocrystals

This paper describes the composition-dependent microstructural, magnetic and dielectric properties of vanadium ions doped nickel ferrite nanoparticles. All the nanoferrite samples (NiVxFe2-xO4: x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.10 and 0.15) were prepared using conventional co-precipitation method. X-ray diffraction patterns verified the single cubic spinel phase formation and achievement of nanosized ferrite particles with a homogeneous distribution, which was also supported by HRTEM micrographs. Mean crystallite diameter was seen in the range of 05 nm to 12 nm as evaluated from Williamson-Hall (W-H) curves for the different doped samples. A compressive nature microstrain was noticed in all the samples and was also seen to reduce with the enhancement of vanadium ions content. A blue shift was detected in the indirect band gap for higher vanadium doped samples. Magnetization at the saturation point as well as coercive field both were observed to reduce at room temperature with increasing vanadium concentration in nanosized nickel ferrites. Room temperature dielectric characteristics of all the synthesized samples ensured that the elementary charge conduction process was governed by the hopping of electrons. Cole-Cole plots also showed that the grain boundaries play an important task in deciding the dielectric responses.