The enhanced anisotropic properties of the Fe3 xMxO4(M Fe, Co, Mn) films deposited on glass surface from aqueous solutions at low temperature

The enhancement of structural anisotropy and magnetic anisotropy in ferrite films, Fe 3− x M x O 4 (M = Fe, Co, Mn), which were deposited on glass substrates from aqueous solutions by thin liquid film (TLF) method at a low temperature (358 K), was compared in x-ray diffraction, conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer measurements. The experimental results showed that the highly coercive Fe 3− x Co x O 4 films, maximum coercivity of 0.21 T at room temperature, have a preferential growing direction along the magnetic easy axis of the magnetite, ⟨111⟩. While anisotropy was enhanced by the addition of Co 2+ ions in the reaction solution, no enhancement was observed in the TLF-films of Fe 3 O 4 and Fe 3− x Mn x O 4 . The enhanced anisotropy is probably caused by the extra stabilization energy of the Co 2+ ions in the octahedral sites of the spinel and the interactions between the Co 2+ ions in the spinel. The alternating deposition of metal ions and oxide ions in TLF process, which is a simulation of the atomic layer deposition, may help the alignment. The most anisotropic TLF film was Fe 2.59 Co 0.41 O 4 .