Chemical Synthesis of Nano-Crystalline Nickel-Zinc Ferrite as a Magnetic Pigment

The nano-crystalline nickel-zinc ferrite was prepared via chemical synthesis. Zinc nitrate, nickel nitrate, iron nitrate hydrate, citric acid and ethylene glycol were used as precursor materials. Crystallization behavior of the precursor was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Nanoparticle phases can change amorphous to spinel ferrite depending on the calcination temperature and crystallite size calculated by Scherrer’s formula about 26-105 nm with the calcinations temperature. Morphological and structural properties were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).The powder density was measured using a helium pycnometer. Magnetization measurements were carried out on an alternative gradient force magnetometer (AGFM), which revealed saturation magnetization of the samples were strongly dependent on the calcination temperature and particle size of the sample and the saturation magnetization values of the samples increased as a function of the calcination temperature. Colorimetric analysis was measured by using UV-visible spectroscopy in the range of 300-700 nm. These result indicated a correlation between pigment color and calcinations temperature. The color of the pigment ranges from reddish brown to deep brown depending on the calcination temperature. Finally our results showed that the chemical synthesis method leads to obtain nano crystalline nickel zinc ferrite with good controllable stoichiometry at low temperature.