Investigation of structural and dielectric properties of Co-Zr doped Barium M-type Hexaferrites

The Samples of Cobalt-Zirconium doped Barium nano-hexagonal ferrites of chemical formula BaFe12-2x(Zr-Co)xO19 (x = 0.5, 0.9) are prepared employing Microwave assisted Sol-gel auto-combustion Route, in which the ferrite materials were generated by providing continuous heat in microwave woven. The precursors in the form of nitrates are taken accompanied with urea as a fuel, supply energy to initiate exothermic reaction during the formation of materials. Uniform heating in the microwave leads to the ultrafast morphological transformations giving rise to a nano-scale particle size of the synthesized samples. The derived ferrites powders being analyzed for their structural and morphological characteristics with the help of X-ray diffraction techniques (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Lattice constants ‘a’ and ‘c’, porosity (p) of the prepared materials were determined. Their d-values are counter checked and (h k l) planes were specified. TEM analysis confirmed the nano-scale particle size of the synthesized samples. The materials have been assessed with Impendence Analyzer for electrical resistivity (ρ). The obtained results suggest that the synthesized samples belong to the family of hexagonal M-type ferrites. A structural observation has verified that the space group symmetry of the prepared materials is P63/mmc. The ferrites samples show high resistivity of the order 107 (Ω-m). Such types of nano-sized ferrite materials with high resistivity are helpful especially for various microwave absorbing applications.