Preparation and structural and magnetic characterization of yttrium-iron garnets by sol-gel techniques and microemulsions
Abstract
Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) has been synthesized by five different techniques. First, the garnet was prepared by solid-state reaction; furthermore the material was prepared by two sol-gel techniques: the citrate gel method and the malonate gel method, and by two techniques in microemulsion: sol-gel in microemulsion and coprecipitation in microemulsion. The properties of the material as obtained by solid-state reaction are those typical of the bulk material. By the two sol-gel techniques one obtain a fine divided material, composed of small particles. Depending on the annealing time and temperature, the mean particle size of the particles range from 30 to 500 nm. The lattice parameter of the material synthesized by sol-gel techniques is larger than that of the bulk material, and a lattice expansion occurs when the mean crystallite size decreases. The magnetic properties of the nanoparticles depend also on the mean particle size. The coercive field depends on the particle size, and at room temperature a maximum value occurs for a particle size around 150 nm. The saturation magnetization of the material decreases with the mean particle size, due to the existence of a noncollinear spin arrangement at the surface of the particles. Using microemulsion as a reaction medium, we hoped to improve the control on the particle size and on the particle size distribution. However, we did not obtain a material with a good quality (pure material and with a short particle size distribution).
- Publication:
-
Ph.D. Thesis
- Pub Date:
- 1997
- Bibcode:
- 1997PhDT........30R
- Keywords:
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- Chemistry: Inorganic, Physics: Electricity and Magnetism