Phase composition and magnetism of sol-gel synthesized Ga-Fe-O nanograins.

We have succeeded in synthesizing orthorhombic Ga(1_X)Fe(1+X)03 (-0.05 ≤ x ≤ 0.5), hexagonal GayFe_(2-y)O3 (0 ≤ y ≤1.8) and cubic Ga(1+Z)Fe(2-Z)04 (--0.1 ≤ z ≤ 0.8) nanograins of gallium ferrites using conventional precursors and an organic environment of Pechini scenario under atmosphericpressure conditions (SG method). Phase composition and homogeneity were analyzed using X-ray diffraction. Small angle neutron scattering disclosed ellipsoidal particle shapes of gallium iron oxides (GFO) crystallizing in orthorhombic (o-GFO) and hexagonal (h-GFO) symmetry and parallelepiped shapes of Ga_(1+y)Fe_(2-y)O4 (c-GFO) grains. Despite local agglomeration among the magnetic grains, the scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy images point to faced-elliptical shapes. The Mössbauer spectroscopy with magnetization measurements was carried out in the temperature range of 5-295 K. The analysis of gallium ferrites magnetism demonstrates that iron atoms locate with various probabilities in crystallography positions and the spontaneous magnetization preserves up to room temperature (RT). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]