57Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy investigation of NiFe2O4 and MnFe2O4 ferrite nanoparticles prepared by thermal treatment method

In this investigation, we have used the thermal treatment method for the preparation of nickel and manganese ferrite nanoparticles. All the samples were calcined at different temperatures from 420 to 570 °C. The results of XRD demonstrated the variation of average nanocrystallite size as a function of calcination temperature. Mossbauer spectra of calcined NiFe2O4 nanoparticles at 570 °C exhibit two sextets, indicating the samples are ferromagnetic, while calcined MnFe2O4 nanoparticles at 420 °C reveal simultaneous presence of two paramagnetic doublets with a central magnetic sextet. The Mossbauer spectroscopy is also applied here for investigating the magnetic hyperfine characteristics and cation distribution of the above-mentioned ferrite nanoparticles. Mossbauer results demonstrate that higher calcination temperature assistances M2+ ions enter into the octahedral sites, while simultaneously Fe3+ ions transfer from the octahedral (B) sites to the tetrahedral (A) sites. As the results indicate, magnetic properties of the samples can be attributed to the hyperfine parameters such as hyperfine field and cation distribution. The results of Mossbauer showed the change in hyperfine parameters along with changing temperature and nanocrystallite size.