The investigation of structural and magnetic properties of Er<inf>2−x</inf>Co<inf>x</inf>O<inf>3</inf> nano-oxides

Abstract

The sol–gel technique was used to synthesize Er2−xCoxO3 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.30) mixed oxides to analyze structural and magnetic properties. The Rietveld analyses show that Er2−xCoxO3 nanoparticles up to x = 0.1 have single phase, for x ≥ 0.2 Co3O4 phase appears. Preferential cationic distribution between the non-equivalent sites 8b and 24d is found for all samples. A systematic variation is found in the average maximum strain with composition x. The magnetic analysis showed that super-paramagnetism is the reason of “S”-shaped hysteresis loops and also non-zero magnetic moments. Both Mr and Ms increased with increasing concentration of Co+2.