Synthesis and properties of nickel-doped nanocrystalline barium hexaferrite ceramic materials

M-type barium hexaferrite ceramics have emerged as important materials both for technological and commercial applications. However, limited work has been reported regarding the investigation of nanocrystalline Ni-doped barium hexaferrites. In this study, nanocrystalline barium hexaferrite ceramics with the composition BaFe12-xNixO19 (where x = 0, 0.3 and 0.5) were synthesized by sol-gel method and characterized using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer and precision impedance analyzer. All the synthesized samples had single magnetoplumbite phase having space group P63/mmc showing the successful substitution of Ni in BaFe12O19 without the formation of any impurity phase. Average grain size of undoped samples was around 120 nm which increased slightly with the addition of Ni. Saturation magnetization (M-s) and remnant magnetization (M-r) increased with the addition of Ni, however, coercivity (H-c) decreased with the increase in Ni from x = 0 to x = 0.5. Real and imaginary parts of permittivity decreased with the increasing frequency and increased with Ni content. Dielectric loss and conductivity showed slight variation with the increase in Ni concentration.