Europium Oxide-Hematite Magnetic Ceramic Nanoparticles

Abstract

Nanoparticle system with the composition xEu₂O3-(1-x)α-Fe₂O3 (x = 0.1 and 0.5) was successfully synthesized by mechanochemical activation of Eu₂O₃ and a-Fe₂O₃ mixtures for 0-12 hours of ball milling time. The study is of relevance to catalysis, biomedical, sensing and energy-related applications. ⁵⁷Fe and ¹⁵¹Eu Mössbauer spectroscopy were used to investigate the phase evolution, solid solution formation and hyperfine parameters of xEu₂O₃-(1-x)α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticle system under the mechanochemical activation process. The ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer studies showed that the spectrum of the ball milled samples evolved from a sextet for hematite to sextets and a doublet upon duration of the milling process with europium oxide. This indicated the formation of the EuFeO₃ perovskite for large x values and long milling times. The ¹⁵¹Eu Mössbauer investigations showed that the isomer shift decreased with increasing milling time for all molar concentrations employed.