Journal of Alloys and Compounds 650 (2015) 116e122

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Journal of Alloys and Compounds

journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jalcom

Structural, magnetic and dielectric properties of magnesium doped

nickel ferrite nanoparticles
H. Moradmard a, S. Farjami Shayesteh a, *, P. Tohidi b, Z. Abbas b, M. Khaleghi a
a
Nanostructure Lab, Department of Physics, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran
b
Department of Physics, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Magnesia doped nickel ferrite nanopowders (Ni1
xMgxFe2O4, x ¼ 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7) have been syn-
Received 8 June 2015 thesized by co-precipitation method and all samples were annealed at 900  C. The structural,
Received in revised form morphological and magnetic properties of the products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD),
26 July 2015
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM),
Accepted 29 July 2015
Available online 31 July 2015
energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Also microwave
dielectric properties were measured at frequencies 1 GHze12 GHz. XRD analysis indicates that all
samples have spinel structure and there is not any extra phase in all samples. The increase in magnesia
Keywords:
Mg-doped nickel ferrite
concentration caused to variation in the average crystallite size and lattice constant. Doping magnesia in
Spinel structure nickel ferrite gave rise to a decrease in the saturation magnetization whereas doping led to increase in
Dielectric permittivity coercivity field. The parameters like dielectric constant, dielectric loss and ac conductivity of the
Magnetic properties nanoparticles samples are studied in the frequency range from 1 to 12 GHz. All these parameters show,
size dependent variations. Complex dielectric permittivity of samples was decreased by increasing in
frequency.
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction structure [10].

In this structure octahedral site was occupied by Ni2þ ions and
3þ
Spinel ferrite nanoparticles are one of the most important Fe ions will occupy both the tetrahedral and the octahedral sites.
nanomaterials because of their significant electronic, optical, elec- Nickel ferrite powders have been investigated for many applica-
trical, magnetic properties which are different from their bulk tions, including ferrofluids, catalysts, microwave devices, gas sen-
structure [1e7]. Molecular formula of magnetic spinel ferrites is sors, and magnetic materials [1e7]. The structural and magnetic
(M2þ) [Fe3þ] O2-4, where M2þ is divalent cation. M2þ and Fe3þ properties of spinel ferrites depend on the magnetic interaction
occupy the tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (B) interstitial sites of the and cation distribution in the two tetrahedral (A) and octahedral
fcc lattice formed by O2
ions in normal spinel ferrites, respectively (B) lattice sites.
[8]. Nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) has an inverse spinel structure in the Insulating materials can be heated by applying high frequency
bulk state [9]. Single crystalline nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) which has electromagnetic energy. The physical origin of this heating con-
an inverse spinel structure is reported to show a mixed spinel version depends on the ability of the electric field to induce po-
structure when grain size is decreased to nanometer range and the larization of charges within the heated product. Polarization
magnetic moment at low temperatures is lower than the value of phenomena are the local reorganization of linked and free charges.
the bulk material [10]. Chinnasamy et al. [11] found a mixed spinel The interaction between a dipole and an electric or magnetic field is
structure for nickel ferrite when the grain size is reduced to a few clearly interpreted by quantum theory. For electric fields the
nanometers. Due to the cation redistribution or change in the co- coupling is weaker and there is such demultiplication of quantum
ordination of the tetrahedral and octahedral sites, the structure of levels that they are very close to each other. Because of the weak
NiFe2O4 deviates from an inverse spinel structure to a mixed spinel coupling between dipole and electric field, there are no quantified
orientations and study of the interaction between a dipole in an
electric field gives more information about the surroundings of the
* Corresponding author. dipole than about then dipole itself. Dipoles are, moreover,
E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Farjami Shayesteh).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.07.269
0925-8388/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 H. Moradmard et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 650 (2015) 116e122 117

associated with chemical bonds, and any motion of the dipole in- a Scherrer formula from the line broadening of the XRD peaks
duces a correlative motion of molecular bonds, whereas motion of a corresponding to all planes of the spinel structure. Fourier trans-
magnetic moment is totally independent of any molecular motion. form infrared spectroscopy (FTIR, Nicolet Magna, IR560, USA)
This polarization cannot follow the extremely rapid reversals of the studies were carried out on the samples to examine the composi-
electric field and induce heating of the irradiated media. The tional characteristics. Quantitative elemental analysis of the sam-
interaction between electromagnetic waves and matter is ples was done by the EDX fluorescence analysis and a field emission
described by the two complex dielectric permittivity (εr) and the SEM (FESEM, Mira 3-XMU) was used for microstructure investi-
magnetic permeability (mr). The electric components of electro- gation of surfaces. The room temperature magnetic characteriza-
magnetic waves can produce currents of free charges (electric tion was done using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM,
conduction that can be by electronic or ionic origin). It can also Meghnatis Daghigh Kavir Co, Iran). Magnetic parameters such as
induce local reorganization of linked charges (dipole moments). saturation magnetization (Ms), remanence magnetization (Mr) and
The local reorganization of linked and free charges is the physical coercivity (Hc), initial magnetic susceptibility (ci) were calculated
origin of polarization phenomena. The storage of electromagnetic from these measurements. The dielectric permittivity was
energy within the irradiated medium and the thermal conversion measured in the microwave frequency range from 1 GHz to 12 GHz
in relation to the frequency of the electromagnetic stimulation using the Agilent Dielectric Probe Kit85070B. Measurements of
appear as the two main points of polarization phenomena induced dielectric parameters such as dielectric constant (ε0 ), dielectric loss
by the interaction between electromagnetic waves and dielectric (ε00 ), loss tangent (tand) were done at room temperature.
media. The waveematter interactions are expressed by the com-
plex formulation of the dielectric permittivity as described by 3. Results and discussion
Eq. (1):
00
3.1. Microstructure
εr ¼ ε0 þ iε (1)
The Mg doped nickel ferrite nanoparticles samples were char-
where εr is the dielectric permittivity of a medium, ε0 and ε00 are the acterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) in the 2q range of 20e70 .
real and imaginary parts of the complex dielectric permittivity. The XRD patterns of ferrite samples with different compositions
storage of electromagnetic energy is shown by the real part, annealed at 900  C are indicated in Fig. 1. All samples have a cubic
whereas the thermal conversion is attributed to the imaginary part. spinel structure and there are not any extra peaks from other
The dielectric properties of nickel ferrite could be varied by the phases which confirmed phase purity of all samples.
addition of small traces of cobalt, manganese and copper, and also The average crystallite size (D) calculated from Sherrer's formula
by bringing deviation from stoichiometry [12]. [18].
There are various chemical and physical methods to prepare
nanoparticles. Some of the main methods include solegel methods 0:9l
D¼ (2)
[13], sonochemical technique [14], hydrothermal methods [15], b cos q
microwave processing approaches [16], co-precipitation [17], etc.
Among these methods, co-precipitation method attracts much where D is the crystallite size, l is the wavelength of X-ray radiation
more attention to preparing ferrite nanoparticles. In this work, we (l ¼ 0.154 nm), b is the full width at half maximum of the peaks and
investigated the synthesis of the nanostructured nickel ferrite q is the angle of diffraction. The diffraction peaks appeared at Bragg
nanopowders by Co-precipitation. Also, the variation of the struc- angles 2q ~30.2 , 35.5 , 43.2 , 53.1, 57.1◦and 62.7 corresponding
tural, magnetic and dielectric permittivity of pure and doped nickel to (220), (311), (400), (422), (511) and (440) planes respectively that
ferrite powder is investigated. confirm the formation of cubic spinel structure [JCPDS, Card No.10-
325]. The crystallite size was altered in all samples which are
2. Materials and methods shown in Table 1. It is clear that Mg doping at first give rise to in-
crease the crystallite size. Then it decreases with further increase in
2.1. Preparation process the doping concentration, which is revealed that the crystallite size
treatment is a kind of comparison between the driving force for
Ni1
xMgxFe2O4 (x ¼ 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7) nanoparticles were
prepared by using a co-precipitation method. All the reagents used
in the experiments were supplied by Chem-Lab. Iron chloride
hexahydrate (FeCl3.6H2O), nickel chloride hexahydrate
(NiCl2.6H2O), magnesium chloride anh (MgCl2) and sodium hy-
droxide (NaOH) were used as starting materials. Salts dissolved in
50 ml double distilled water. We have used 0.1 M solution from
nickel and magnesium and 0.2 M iron chloride. Salt solution was
added to sodium hydroxide solution (2 M) drop wise till the PH
reached close to 13. The reaction was carried out at 85  C for 2 h
with vigorous mixing. Then the precipitated product was centri-
fuged at 3200 rpm and the products were washed with deionized
water for several times. Then powders dried at 70  C for 24 h. After
drying samples were annealed at 900  C.

2.2. Characterization

The samples were characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD)

using a PW 1800 (Philips, Netherland) and Cu-Ka radiation Fig. 1. XRD patterns of a) NiFe2O4, b) Ni0.9Mg0.1Fe2O4, c) Ni0.7Mg0.3Fe2O4, d)
(l ¼ 0.154 nm). The average crystallite size D was obtained by using Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4, e) Ni0.3Mg0.7Fe2O4 nanoparticles, which annealed at 900  C.
118 H. Moradmard et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 650 (2015) 116e122

Table 1
Average crystallite size, lattice parameters and X-Ray density calculated from XRD results for pure and Mg doped nickel ferrite nanoparticles annealed at 900  C.

Samples Crystallite size (nm) Lattice constant (Å) X-Ray density (gr/cm3) Crystallite size(WeH method) (nm) Strain (ε)

NiFe2O4 30 8.354 5.34 39 7.192  10
4

Ni0.9Mg0.1Fe2O4 38 8.410 5.16 30
3.8681  10
4
Ni0.7Mg0.3Fe2O4 33 8.354 5.11 40 7.3794  10
4
Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4 40 8.394 4.87 44 3.1255  10
4
Ni0.3Mg0.7Fe2O4 38 8.367 4.77 37 1.7154  10
4

grain boundary motion and the retarding force by pores. Abdul crystallite sizes are consistent with Scherrer's calculations. A
Gaffoor et al. by auto-combustion method [19] and Lohar et al. by negative strain for samples may be attributed to the lattice
solegel method [20] prepared Mg doping in nickel ferrite which shrinkage.
showed a homogeneous single phased cubic spinel belonging to the
space group Fd3m and the crystallite sites varying is consistent
3.2. Morphological observation
with our results. During the sintering process, a force will be
generated which cause of material densities. If the driving force of
FESEM was used in order to characterize the morphology of the
the grain boundary for each grain is not homogeneous, the sinter-
samples. Fig. 2aec indicate the FESEM micrographs for NiFe2O4,
ing body will reach a non-uniform grain size distribution [21]. The
Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4 and Ni0.3Mg0.7Fe2O4 nanoparticles, respectively.
intensities of (220) and (440) and (511) planes are more sensitive to
Micrographs confirm the formation of spherical particles for
the cations on tetrahedral and octahedral and the oxygen ion pa-
NiFe2O4. However, for two other samples, the shape of particles is
rameters, respectively [21]. Ni2þ ions have a strong preference to
changed. It can be noted for Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4 and Ni0.3Mg0.7Fe2O4
occupy B sites. It can be shown that the intensities of the planes
samples the micrographs indicate agglomerated nanoparticles. This
decline with the addition of magnesium. The decrease in the in-
analysis clearly shows the agglomeration and irregular crystals, it
tensity of the (220) plane is more than (440) plane. This result may
can be explained by interactions between magnetic nanoparticles.
cause to increase amounts of Mg2þ located on tetrahedral sites due
The stoichiometry of NiFe2O4 and Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles
to Mg doping process [22].
was detected by EDX analysis. Fig. 3a and b demonstrates the EDX
Lattice parameter was calculated by using the formula [18].
pattern of samples and the percentage of elements are listed in
 1=2 Table 2.
a ¼ dhkl h2 þ k2 þ l2 (3) The EDX analysis gives the qualitative composition of these
nanoparticles and also shows the presence of Ni, Fe, Mg and O in
the samples. There are some peaks between 1 and 3 KeV which
where dhkl is the interplane spacing; h, k, and l are the Miller
attributed to silicon container that samples are annealed on them.
indices of the crystal planes. The crystallite size and lattice
parameter are summarized in Table 1. Also the crystallite size was
estimated by WilliamsoneHall equation [23]. 3.3. 3. FTIR properties

0:9l The formation of the spinel structure of nickel ferrite was sup-
b cos q ¼ þ 4ε sin q (4)
DW ported by FTIR spectra. FTIR spectrum of as-prepared and Mg doped
Nickel ferrite powder is shown in Fig. 4. As shown in Fig. 4, as-
where ε is the strain associated with the nanoparticles. The result prepared nickel ferrite shows two principle absorption bands in
obtained from WeH calculation is summarized in Table 1. the range of 400e650 cm
1 in which the first band is around
At first the value of lattice constant of ferrite compositions raises 440 cm
1 and the second band is around 640 cm
1 corresponding
with the concentration of Mg2þ. Addition of Mg2þ might cause to the stretching vibration oxygen-metal ions of the tetrahedral and
migration of smaller Fe3þ ions from tetrahedral to octahedral sites octahedral sites, respectively [23]. The peak around 1358 cm
1
[24]. This spreads out the tetrahedral sites leading to an increase of represents the bending vibrations of OeH, which are assigned to
the lattice constant [25]. Results of WeH calculation show that the OH-absorbed by nanoparticles [26]. The band around 1600 cm
1

Fig. 2. The FESEM image of a) NiFe2O4, b) Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4, c) Ni0.3Mg0.7Fe2O4 nanoparticles, which annealed at 900  C.
 H. Moradmard et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 650 (2015) 116e122 119

Fig. 3. The energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis of a) NiFe2O4, b) Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles, which annealed at 900  C.

Table 2
EDX results of NiFe2O4 and Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles, which annealed at 900  C.

Elements NiFe2O4 Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4

(W%) (A%) (W%) (A%)

O 40.40 70.62 31.54 59.88

Fe 40.50 20.28 53.06 28.86
Ni 19.10 9.10 10.90 5.64
Mg e e 4.50 5.62

Fig. 5. Magnetization curves as a function of the magnetic field of a) NiFe2O4, b)

Ni0.9Mg0.1Fe2O4, c) Ni0.7Mg0.3Fe2O4, d) Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4, e) Ni0.3Mg0.7Fe2O4 nano-
particles which annealed at 900  C.

is much lower than the bulk value due to surface spin disorder and
decreases with decreasing particle size. This lowering of saturation
is induced by several reasons. Magnetization reduction is related to
cation redistribution. According to Fig. 5 it is clear that the
increasing in the concentration of magnesium give rise to a
decrease in the saturation magnetization and remanence magne-
tization of nickel ferrite. In a ferromagnetic spinel structure, the
magnetic order is caused by super exchange interactions which
occur between the metal ions in the tetrahedral (A) and octahedral
Fig. 4. FTIR spectra of a) As-prepared NiFe2O4, b) Ni0.9Mg0.1Fe2O4, c) Ni0.7Mg0.3Fe2O4, (B) sublattices. Hence, it is possible to change the magnetic prop-
d) Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4, e) Ni0.3Mg0.7Fe2O4 nanoparticles, which annealed at 900  C. erties of the samples by varying the cations. Saturation magneti-
zation declines because the iron goes to the A site. This may be
based on the fact that the exchange interaction between A and B
corresponds to bending mode of H2O molecules. The broad peak
sites gets weak, resulting in improving of BeB interaction and
located at 3400 cm
1 is associated with OeH vibrations [27]. It is
weakening of AeB interaction, which result in decreasing of satu-
apparent that after annealing the OH group is vanishing for other
ration magnetization [22]. In addition, It is known that nickel ferrite
samples.
is an inverse spinel structure which has a noncollinear ferromag-
netic spin structure in range 20e100 nm particle size. Decreasing in
3.4. Magnetic properties
saturation magnetization has been described in the base of its
noncollinear spin arrangement on the surface of particles [28].
The magnetic properties of all samples were studied by VSM.
Fig. 5 indicates that coercivity increases with the adding Mg con-
Fig. 5 indicates the magnetic hysteresis loops of the samples
centration. This is due to the fact that Hc increases with the increase
measured at room temperature.
in magnetocrystalline anisotropy. The magnetic moment per
For most magnetic nanoparticles the saturation magnetization
120 H. Moradmard et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 650 (2015) 116e122

formula unit in Bohr Magneton (mB) of samples is given by Ref. [29].

M  Ms
hB ¼ (5)
5585

where M is molecular weight and Ms is saturation magnetization of

samples. Also magnetic anisotropy (K) is calculated by Ref. [29].

0:96K
Hc ¼ (6)
Ms
Magnetic parameters such as saturation magnetization (Ms),
remanence magnetization (Mr), coercivity (Hc), initial magnetic
susceptibility (ci), magnetic momentum (hB) and anisotropy con-
stant (K) of ferrite nanoparticles are reported in Table 3.
The value of initial magnetic susceptibility (ci) and magnetic
momentum (hB) of the samples decreased with increasing Mg2þ
concentration. Decreasing in value of magnetic moment may be
due to the Mg2þ concentration increases in nickel ferrite, the mo-
lecular weight and saturation magnetization decreased [29].
Fig. 6. Real permittivity versus frequency for a) NiFe2O4, b) Ni0.9Mg0.1Fe2O4, c)
Ni0.7Mg0.3Fe2O4, d) Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4, e) Ni0.3Mg0.7Fe2O4.
3.5. Dielectric properties

The responses of materials to the incident microwave are

characterized by two fundamental parameters, complex permit-
00
tivity ðεr ¼ ε0 þ iε Þ and complex magnetic per-
00
0
meabilityðmr ¼ m þ im Þ. Permittivity is to measure how much
resistance is encountered when an electric field is formed in a
vacuum. It represents the ability of a material to polarize in the
electric field. However, the permeability is to measure the ability of
a material to magnetize in the magnetic field. When the electro-
magnetic wave is incident on a material, the microwave energy is
dissipated as heat through the interactions of electromagnetic force
fields with the material's molecular and electronic structure, i.e.,
through damping forces on the polarized atoms and molecules and
through finite conductivity. When microwaves penetrate and
propagate through a dielectric material the internal field generated
within the affected volume induces translational motions of free or
bound charges such as electrons or ions, and rotates charge com-
plexes such as dipoles. Inertial, elastic and frictional forces resist
these induced motions and cause losses, a consequence of which is
volumetric heating [30]. In this paper, complex permittivity of
samples are studied. Fig. 7. Imaginary permittivity versus frequency for a) NiFe2O4, b) Ni0.9Mg0.1Fe2O4, c)
The real part (ε0 ) of the complex permittivity is known as Ni0.7Mg0.3Fe2O4, d) Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4, e) Ni0.3Mg0.7Fe2O4.
dielectric constant and the imaginary part (ε00 ) is attributed to the
dielectric loss of the material. The base reason for the emergence of
dielectric loss is the lag of the response of materials to the external
00
field. Figs. 6 and 7 indicates real and imaginary (ε0 , ε00 ) parts of the s ¼ 2pf ε0 ε (7)
complex permittivity of NixMg1
xFe2O4 (x ¼ 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7),
respectively, over the microwave frequency range from 1 GHz to where s is the total effective conductivity (S/m) caused by ionic
12 GHz. Dielectric parameters such as dielectric constant (ε0 ), conduction and displacement currents and f is the frequency.
dielectric loss (ε00 ), loss tangent (tand) for samples were measured As shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the values of ε0 are larger than of ε00 and
at room temperature. When the conductivity (s) due to free charge the variation of the ε0 spectrum different from the spectrum of ε00 . It
has a small value (good dielectric) the effective conductivity is is clear that in all samples dielectric constant (έ) is decreasing as the
related to electric polarization and is given by Ref. [31]. frequency increases from 1 GHz to 12 GHz. Generally dipolar,

Table 3
Magnetic parameters measured from VSM at room temperature for pure and doped nickel ferrite nanoparticles annealed at 900.

Samples Saturation magnetization Ms Coercivity Hc Remanence magnetization Mr Magnetic moment Anisotropy constant K Initial
(emu/gr) (Oe) (emu/gr) hB (mB) (erg/gr) susceptibility ci

NiFe2O4 28.82 82.85 1.42 1.209 2487.23 0.04

Ni0.9Mg0.1Fe2O4 25.02 143.13 2.08 1.0345 3730.32 0.28
Ni0.7Mg0.3Fe2O4 18.65 155.64 1.62 0.7482 3023.63 0.17
Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4 13.53 183.10 1.13 0.526 2580.56 0.10
Ni0.3Mg0.7Fe2O4 10.03 186.22 0.82 0.378 1945.61 0.006
 H. Moradmard et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 650 (2015) 116e122 121

interfacial, ionic and electronic polarizations contribute to the

dielectric constant of any material. Dipolar and interfacial polari-
zations are significant to the dielectric constant at low frequencies.
However, at higher frequencies the electronic polarization is an
effective and dipolar contribution is not vital [32]. It is known that
the real permittivity is an expression of the polarization ability of a
material which mainly arises from dipolar polarization and inter-
facial polarization at microwave frequency. Polarization and vari-
ation of dielectric constant with frequency in ferrites might relate
to variation of Fe2þ and Fe3þ ion concentration [33]. The nickel ions
(Ni2þ) and half of the iron ions (Fe3þ) occupy the octahedral sites
and the other half of the iron ions exist in tetrahedral sites. Ni2þ and
Ni3þ ions leads to p-type carriers (holes) whereas Fe2þ and Fe3þ
ions give rise to n-type carriers (electrons). Both electrons and
holes in octahedral sites are due to the presence of Ni and Fe ions.
Electrons are the carriers in the tetrahedral sites because only iron
ions exist in these sites. The increase in number of Fe2þ ions gives
rise to an increase in dielectric constant of nickel ferrite. As known,
in microwave frequencies the dielectric constant of ferrites de- Fig. 9. Variation of microwave ac conductivity of a) NiFe2O4, b) Ni0.9Mg0.1Fe2O4, c)
pends on the number of Fe2þ ions since they are easily polarized Ni0.7Mg0.3Fe2O4, d) Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4, e) Ni0.3Mg0.7Fe2O4 nanoparticles, which annealed
than Fe3þ ions [34]. at 900  C.
It is apparent that value of ε0 of samples is decreasing with
frequency and treatment of ε00 were not linear with frequency due
to relaxation phenomena of dipoles. From Fig. 7, it can be concluded 00
ε
that among doped samples, Ni0.9Mg0.1Fe2O4 exhibited better tan d ¼ (8)
absorbing properties up to 8 GHz due to high dielectric loss than
ε0
other samples and after that Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4 show the better The variation of dielectric loss tangent of samples with fre-
behavior. Dielectric properties of nickel ferrite reported by Weimo quency is shown in Fig. 8. The dielectric loss is caused by a lag in
Zhu et al. [35] which showed a minimal reflection loss. The polarization with increasing of the applied electric field. Materials
dielectric loss presents different loss mechanisms as frequency with high tand are suitable for high frequency heating devices. The
increases [36]. When the frequency is relatively low, the loss is loss parameter, depends on the grain morphology. According to
determined by the peak conductance, and the loss is independent Fig. 8, it is apparent that the value of loss is low. This may be due to
of the frequency. As the frequency increases to the microwave the high density of samples which attributed to the defect free
frequency band, the mechanisms involved are relaxation polariza- materials.
tion loss and electric conductance loss. The increase in the imagi- Microwave dielectric properties of nanostructured nickel ferrite
nary component of the permittivity as the frequency increases may were done by Jacob et al. [40], in comparison with our results, loss
be the consequence of the increased relaxation polarization loss tangent of the nick ferrite [40] is lower than NieMg ferrite. It can be
and electric conductance loss [37e39]. As well known, the dielec- concluded that Mg doping improves loss tangent which cause to
tric loss derives from leakage conductivity, dielectric relaxation, or better microwave absorption.
intrinsic loss. For the ferrite, the dielectric relaxation was the main Fig. 9 shows the microwave conductivity for all samples. The
factor due to its high resistivity. The dielectric loss tangent is given microwave conductivity measurements reveal the loss of polaron
by: conduction which supports the dielectric loss in the microwave
region.

4. Conclusion

Poly crystalline spinel ferrite Ni1
xMgxFe2O4 (x ¼ 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5,

0.7) nanoparticles was successfully synthesized by the co-
precipitation method. The XRD analysis indicated the formation
of single phase spinel structure. Crystallite size of nanoparticles was
calculated by Scherer's equation. FESEM analysis confirmed that
particle size changes as the Mg2þ concentration increases. Mag-
netic measurement shows all samples are ferromagnetic.
Increasing in Mg2þ concentration caused to reduce in saturation
magnetization and magnetic moment, whereas, coercivity (Hc)
increase in all samples. The reason of a reduction in magnetization
is due to noncollineary which generated by finite size and surface
effects. Increasing in coercivity is based on the replacement of Fe3þ
by Mg2þ ions in octahedral sites, because the ionic radius of Mg is
greater than Fe. The microwave dielectric properties like dielectric
constant and dielectric loss was investigated. Although the imagi-
nary part of the permittivity of nanoparticles increased with fre-
Fig. 8. Variation of dielectric loss tangent of a) NiFe2O4, b) Ni0.9Mg0.1Fe2O4, c)
quency, whereas, the real parts declined. The higher value of ε0 is in
Ni0.7Mg0.3Fe2O4, d) Ni0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4, e) Ni0.3Mg0.7Fe2O4 nanoparticles, which annealed the low frequency range. The dipolar and interfacial polarization
at 900  C. plays a vital role in obtaining the dielectric properties of ferrites. A
122 H. Moradmard et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 650 (2015) 116e122

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