Influence of Pr-cations on structural, spectral, elemental, and electrical features of Zr2-R type ferrites

Hexagonal ferrites have gained much attraction due to extensive applications in telecommunication and stealth fields. R-type hexagonal ferrites are rare hexagonal ferrites used in various technological applications. In the current work, the sol-gel auto-combustion method was used to prepare samples of R-type hexagonal ferrites with the chemical formula BaZr2Fe4-xPrxO11 (x = 0.00, 0.03, 0.06, and 0.09) respectively. The impact of substituting Praseodymium (Pr) on its structural, electrical, dielectric, and magnetic properties was investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns suggest all samples exhibit a single phase. The lattice parameters and unit cell volume experienced alterations with varying Praseodymium (Pr3+) substitution levels. The atomic dynamics study of the Pr-doped R-type hexagonal ferrites was evaluated using FTIR analysis. Two absorption bands in the infrared spectroscopy were utilized to designate the tetrahedral and octahedral sites. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) findings verified the presence of all metal ions alongside their respective electronic states. Jonscher's power law elucidates the conduction mechanism of charge carriers in the synthesized ferrite samples. Impedance analysis was employed to investigate the influence of relaxation time and grain boundaries on the electrical characteristics of the fabricated nanomaterials. Impedance Cole-Cole plots provide evidence that all samples demonstrate multiple relaxation processes of a non-Debye nature. The minimum reflection loss (RL) of -32.46 dB at 3.27 GHz was achieved for x = 0.09. Pr-doped R-type hexagonal ferrite has potential applications in microwave high-frequency applications.