• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.180-185
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• 2009

Fe$_3$O$_4$ particles, prepared by a sol-gel method, were examined for their structural characteristic, particle shapes and sizes, and their magnetic properties. Two different chemical compositions (using a mol rate Fe$^{2+}$/Fe$^{3+}$ = 1/2 and only Fe$^{2+}$) and 2-methoxyethanol were used for making proper solutions. And the solutions were refluxed and dry in a dry oven and the samples were fired at 200$\sim$600$^{\circ}C$ in the N$_2$ atmosphere. The formation of single-phased spinel ferrite powders was identified with the X-ray diffraction measurement as they were fired at above 250$^{\circ}C$. The result of scanning electron microscopy measurement showed the increase of annealing temperature yielded the particle size increased. The magnetic transition was observed using the Mossbaur spectroscopy measurement. As the ferrite, prepared with the chemical composition (Fe$^{2+}$/Fe$^{3+}$ = 1/2), was fired at 250$^{\circ}C$, 78% of the ferrite had a ferrimagnetic property and 22% of the ferrite was non-magnetic. In case of preparing the sample with only Fe$^{2+}$ and annealed at 200$^{\circ}C$, it had a single phased spinel structure but its particle size was too small to be ferrimagnetic. The annealing temperature above 250$^{\circ}C$ made powders a spinel structure regardless of the preparation method. They had a typical soft magnetic property and their saturation magnetization and coercivity became larger as the annealing temperature increased.