Study of the Properties of Co-Substituted Ba2Mg2Fe12O22 Hexaferrites

Multiferroic materials, in which long-range magnetic and ferroelectric orders coexist, have recently been of great interest in the fields of both basic and applied sciences. The Y-type hexagonal ferrite Ba2Mg2Fe12O22 is an example of a multiferroic material. Its single crystals have a relatively high spiral-magnetic transition temperature (~200 K), show multiferroic properties at zero magnetic field, and the direction of the ferroelectric polarization can be controlled by a weak magnetic field (< 0.02 T) [1]. We present a study of the influence of substituting the Mg2+ cations in the Y-type Ba2Mg2Fe12O22 hexaferrites with a magnetic cation, such as Co2+, on the structural and magnetic properties. The Ba2Mg0.4Co1.6Fe12O22 powder was synthesized by sonochemical co-precipitation. High-power ultrasound was applied to assist the co-precipitation process. The precursors produced were synthesized at 1170°С. The XRD spectra of the powders showed the characteristic peaks corresponding to the Y-type hexaferrite structure as a main phase and some CoFe2O4 impurity (< 2%) as second phase. This was also confirmed by Mössbauer spectroscopy measurements. The magnetization values at 50 kOe were 30 emu/g and 26.6 emu/g at 4.2 and 300 K, respectively. The ZFC and FC magnetization curves were obtained at a magnetic field of 500 Oe. The magnetic measurements revealed a magnetic phase transition at 200 K from ferrimagnetic-to-helical spin order. Such a transition is considered as a precondition for the material to exhibit multiferroic properties.