Title: Structural and magnetic properties of mechanically milled TiO₂-Fe₂O₃ mixture

Authors: A.M. Al-Saie; A. Jaffar; M. Bououdina

Addresses: Nanotechnology Centre, University of Bahrain, P.O. Box 32038, Kingdom of Bahrain; Department of Physics, College of Science, P.O. Box 32038, Kingdom of Bahrain. ' Department of Physics, College of Science, P.O. Box 32038, Kingdom of Bahrain. ' Nanotechnology Centre, University of Bahrain, P.O. Box 32038, Kingdom of Bahrain; Department of Physics, College of Science, P.O. Box 32038, Kingdom of Bahrain

Abstract: A mixture of Fe₂O₃ and TiO₂ oxides has been mechanically milled to form TiFe₂O₄ spinel phase. X-ray diffraction pattern of the as-milled mixture shows the presence of both Fe₂O₃ and TiO₂ phases. The broadening of the diffraction peaks and the decrease of their relative intensity are due to the grain size reduction and accumulation of internal strains. Annealing at 750°C leads to an increase of the Fe₂O₃ peaks intensity and the reduction of TiO₂ amount suggesting a possible diffusion of Ti into Fe₂O₃ crystal lattice to form Fe_2-xTixO₃ compound. The saturation magnetisation (Ms) drops from 2.6 emu/g for the as-milled mixture to 0.8 emu/g after annealing.

Keywords: rutile titanium dioxide; TiO2; mechanical milling; nanoparticles; X-ray diffraction; XRD; magnetic properties; saturation magnetisation; annealing; nanotechnology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNP.2011.043493

International Journal of Nanoparticles, 2011 Vol.4 No.4, pp.307 - 313

Received: 12 Mar 2010
Accepted: 25 Mar 2010
Published online: 13 Mar 2015 *

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