Irregular distribution of metal ions in ferrites prepared by co-precipitation technique structure analysis of Mn-Zn ferrite using extended X-ray absorption fine structure

The tetrahedral/octahedral site occupancy of non-magnetic zinc ion, added to maximize the net magnetic moment of mixed ferrites has been found to depend on the method of preparation. In this paper, we qualitatively analyze the metal ion distribution in Mn-Zn ferrite particles prepared by co-precipitation and ceramic methods using extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) technique. The results suggest that the differences observed in the magnetic properties of the samples prepared by different methods are not only due to the difference in particle size but also due to the difference in cation distribution. The difference in cation distributions between ferrites of similar composition prepared differently has been found to depend on the crystal field stability energies of the metal ion of interest and associated cations.