Microwave assisted synthesis and characterization fo LSMO: Cobalt ferrite composites

Abstract

Manganite-Ferrite Nano composite materials are of great technical applicability, as these materials can be used as read heads for hard disks, magnetic storage and sensing devices.These composites are having an inherent property of magnetic coupling between these two phases affecting the microstructural and magnetic properties. The main objective of this work is to study the effect of CF addition on the microstructural and magnetic properties of LSMO: CF composites using microwave oven. In this work, microwave assisted synthesis was carried out for the preparation of (1-x) mol % La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (LSMO): x mol % CoFe2O4 (CF) (where x= 2, 5, 10,and 15) powder composites by using microwave oven. Different characterization techniques such as XRD, SEM, density and M-H loop have been performed to study the properties of these composites.Minimum calcinations temperature for pure LSMO and CF powders is 800 °C as observed from thermal analysis. X-ray diffraction analysis confirms the presence of two phases with either LSMO or CF, without any impurities. LSMO and ferrite phases are uniformly distributed with nearly spherical morphology as observed from the SEM micrographs. The particle size of LSMO is smaller as compared to CF in these composites. SEM with EDAX confirms the two phase system of all LSMO: CF composites.