XPS study on the correlation of magnetic properties and site occupancy of Al doped SrFe12O19

Abstract

We have performed an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) study of SrFe12−xAlxO19 (0 ≤ x ≤ 2.4), and the results have been correlated to the magnetic properties measured using VSM technique. The coercivity of the parent compound increased from 5420 Oe to 7340 Oe with increasing the doping concentration of Al ions up to x = 1.2. The XPS data of Fe 3s spectrum show that the intensity of majority peak decreased with the doping of Al ion and it is associated with the magnetic moment. The XPS analysis of Fe 2p data in conjugation with the Fe 3s data suggests that the Al ions occupy the 2a site of the crystal structure up to x = 1.2, and beyond the dopant ions distribute at other occupation sites. The observed correlation between the spectral features of Fe 3s spectrum and the magnetic data suggests that XPS technique can also be used as a spectroscopic diagnostic tool to comprehend the influence of doping ion on the magnetic moment of spin up and spin down sublattice of ferrimagnetic structure.