Characterizations of maghemite thin films prepared by a sol-gel method

Journal Article · Fri Sep 25 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4931270· OSTI ID:22488979

Lau, L. N., E-mail: [e-mail]; Ibrahim, N. B., E-mail: [e-mail] ^[1]

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1. School of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor. Malaysia (Malaysia)

Iron is one of the abundant elements of Mother Nature and its compound, iron oxide is an interesting material to study since its discovery in the form of magnetite. It can exist in many phases such as hematite and maghemite, this unique nature has put it as a potential candidate in various applications. The aim of this work is to study the influence of different precursor concentrations on the microstructural and magnetic properties of iron oxide thin film. All samples were prepared via the sol-gel method followed by a spin coating technique on quartz substrates. Iron oxide films were confirmed as maghemite phase from X-ray diffraction patterns. The film morphology was examined by a field emission scanning electron microscope and it showed non-systematic value of average grain size and film thickness throughout the study. Hysteresis loop further confirmed that maghemite is a magnetic material when it was characterized by a vibrating sample magnetometer. The coercivity did not show any correlation with molarity. Nevertheless, it increased as the precursor concentration of the film increased due to the domain behaviour. In conclusion, maghemite thin films were successfully synthesized by the sol-gel method with different precursor concentrations in this work.

• OSTI ID: 22488979
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1678, Issue 1; Conference: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Faculty of Science and Technology 2015 Postgraduate Colloquium, Selangor (Malaysia), 15-16 Apr 2015; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
COERCIVE FORCE
CONCENTRATION RATIO
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
FIELD EMISSION
GRAIN SIZE
HEMATITE
HYSTERESIS
IRON
IRON OXIDES
MAGNETIC MATERIALS
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
MAGNETITE
MORPHOLOGY
QUARTZ
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SOL-GEL PROCESS
SPIN-ON COATING
THIN FILMS
VIBRATING SAMPLE MAGNETOMETERS
X-RAY DIFFRACTION