Investigation of substitution effects of the first four lanthanides (La, Ce, Pr and Nd) in yttrium iron garnet

In this study, the substitution effects of the first four lanthanides (La, Ce, Pr and Nd) in yttrium iron garnet (Y3Fe5O12, YIG) have been investigated for the first time to the best our knowledge. The Ln-substituted yttrium iron garnets (Y(3-x)Ln(x)Fe(5)O(12), where Ln = La, Ce, Pr and Nd; x = 0.0; 0.75, 1.5, 2.25, 3.0) were prepared by an aqueous sol-gel method. The phase purity and structure of synthesized Y(3-x)Ln(x)Fe(5)O(12 )specimens were estimated using XRD analysis, FTIR spectroscopy and Mossbauer spectroscopy. It was demonstrated that substitutional level in the sol-gel derived Y3-x Ln(x)Fe(5)O(12) (Ln = La, Ce, Pr and Nd) systems depends very much on the nature of lanthanide element. For example, the 25% substitution of Y by La small amount of side perovskite LaFeO3 phase have formed. With increasing substitutional level of La the amount of perovskite phase also increased and, consequently, the amount of garnet phase monotonically decreased. In the case of Y3-xCexFe5O12 system, the formation of monophasic garnet did not proceed in whole substitutional range. On the other hand, the monophasic Y1.5Pr1.5Fe5O12 and Y(1.5)Nd(1.5)Fe(5)O(12 )garnets have been synthesized using sol-gel chemistry approach. Only negligible amount of perovskite phase was formed in the case when 75% of yttrium was replaced by praseodymium. However, in the case of neodymium the synthesis product with such substitutional level still was monophasic garnet. The SEM analysis results revealed that the most particles were formed in the range of 0.5-40 mu m showing rather broad particle size distribution. Magnetic properties were also determined by magnetization measurements.& nbsp;(C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.