Effect of Zn²⁺ substitution on DC electrical resistivity and magnetic properties of Mg_0.5−xZn_xCo_0.5Fe₂O₄ nano ferrite

Mg_0.5−xZn_xCo_0.5Fe₂O₄ with ferrites were substituted with Zn²⁺ with concentrations x = 0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, and 0.25 prepared from a sol–gel auto-combustion method. The impact of Zn²⁺ ion substitution on morphological, structural, DC electrical resistivity, and magnetic characteristics was examined. The diffraction analysis with X-ray reveals that the prepared ferrites are spinel with a single-phase face-centred cubic structure. The cubic crystal structure samples’ values for the crystallite size (42 to 25 nm) and lattice constant (8.386 to 8.425 Å) increased as the concentration increased. Field-effect scanning electron microscopy revealed the ferrite samples’ polycrystalline structures and spherical morphologies. Using FESEM micrographs, the average grain size was between 56.4 and 85.7 nm. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy was used to identify two different peaks that emerged at around 585–592 cm⁻¹ and 401–405 cm⁻¹. These peaks revealed information on the functional groups of the sample chemicals. Temperature-dependent DC electrical resistivity shows the semiconductors’ nature samples. The vibrating sample magnetometer analysis shows that the ferrites are soft ferrimagnetic. The saturation magnetisation was increased (60.45 to 85.04 emu/g), and coercivity was decreased (356.46 to 620.59 Oe) when the concentration was increased. The study unveiled tuned values of the physical characteristics, thereby highlighting potential applications in recent technologies.