Structural and electrical conduction properties of Y 3+ ions substituted Li-Zn-Ti ferrites

Rare earth yttrium substituted lithium ferrites Li0.5Zn0.1Ti0.1YxFe2.3–xO4 with nominal composition x = 0.00 to 0.10 in steps of 0.02 was prepared by the conventional ceramic method. The samples were sintered at 1050 °C for 6 h using resistive conventional heating. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirmed the formation of a single phase with a spinel structure. FTIR studies also confirmed the tetrahedral and octahedral metal-oxygen bonding of the spinel structure. Structural parameters like density, lattice constant, and crystallite size, site distances, bond length distances were measured from XRD data. The crystallite size reduces while the density increased with the progressive substitution of Y3+ ions. The Fe3+ ions at the A and the B sites mainly contributes to the electromagnetic properties of ferrites. Y3+ ions preferably entering the B sites can significantly interfere with the conduction mechanism of lithium ferrites. The objective of the present work is to find out the effect of Y3+ substitution on the structural and electrical conduction response Li-Zn-Ti ferrites. The DC resistivity initially is found to increase for concentration x = 0.04 and then decrease with further substitution. The study of the temperature dependence of DC resistivity depicts two types of conduction mechanisms in the range studied. The results obtained are analyzed and presented in the paper.