Influence of Ce4+ ions on the structural and magnetic properties of NiFe2O4

The effect of Ce4+ substitution in NiFe2O4, with a chemical formula Ni1-2xCexFe2O4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.25), ferrite prepared by a solid-state reaction is presented in this paper. Ce4+ ions enter the NiFe2O4 lattice by replacing Ni2+ and swell the lattice. This enlarges the lattice constant, which results in a moderate distortion of the lattice. The r.m.s. strain increases from 0.411 × 10−3 to 0.471 × 10−3 with increasing Ce4+ content. SEM images revealed that Ce4+ promotes grain growth in NiFe2O4. It was also revealed that x-ray density and porosity decreases, whereas a significant increase in the bulk density is observed with the Ce4+ content. Substitution of Ce4+ for Ni2+ caused a decrease in the saturation magnetization from 41.3 to 25.12 emu/g and a decrease in the Curie temperature of the nickel ferrite from 830 to 594 K, whereas the coercivity increased from 59.48 to 458.25 Oe.