Effects of Yb3+ Doping on Structural, Morphological, and Temperature Dependent Magnetic Properties of MnFe2O4 Nanoparticles

MnFe2-xYbxO4 nanoparticles (x = 0, 0.025, 0.075, 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2) are synthesized using the co-precipitation method. The influence of rare earth Yb3+ doping on the manganese ferrite is investigated by techniques such as x-ray diffraction (XRD) and field effect scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The magnetic properties were measured using vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) at temperatures of 5 K and 300 K. XRD results show the formation of undoped and Yb3+-doped manganese ferrite nanoparticles. Crystallite size calculated using XRD reveals that it is doping concentration dependent. FESEM images reveal the formation of faceted nanoparticles for undoped sample and spherical shape for x = 0.025-0.2. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) shows that Yb3+ ions are successfully incorporated into manganese ferrite. Saturation magnetization, coercivity, retentivity, squareness ratio, thickness of the dead layer, magnetic moment, and anisotropy constant are determined at 5 K and 300 K. These studies show dependence of these parameters on the amount of doping.