Synthesis of Al₃Fe₅O₁₂ Cubic Structure by Extremely Low Sintering Temperature of Sol Gel Technique

Problem statement: Fabrication of nano materials particularly nano inductors at low sintering temperature remains a challenge. This study was carried out as our initial response to obtain a nano-size inductors, which is aluminium iron garnet using low sintering temperature. Approach: The aluminum iron garnet (Al₃Fe₅O₁₂) nano crystals were prepared by sol-gel technique. The starting solution is a mixture of iron nitrate Fe(NO₃)₃.9H₂O, yttrium nitrate Y(NO₃)₃.6H₂O and aluminum nitrate Al(NO₃)₃.9H₂O and were dissolved in 150 mL of citric acid, C₆H₈O₇.H₂O. The mixtures were stirred continuously, at about 250 r.p.m, in room temperature until the formation of a gel was observed. The gel was dried at 110°C in an oven to remove the unneeded water. The dried powder was calcined at 600°C, for 3 h in air and was wet crushed using a Fritsch Planetary Micromill for 6 h to obtain fine particles powder. The sample was then characterized by X-Ray Diffraction analysis (XRD) to confirm the garnet phase. The sintered powder was characterized at different temperature by X-ray diffraction analysis and Raman Spectroscopy was used to study the vibration of atoms in a materials. Finally, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) was used to study the surface morphology of the sample. Results: The XRD results showed that, the best garnet cubic phase giving [1 0 4] plane of the Al₃Fe₅O₁₂ crystallite appeared at 33.30 of the 2 theta. We report a clear cubic crystal structure of less than 62 nm, which was observed possible for the first time, for this type of garnet, Al₃Fe₅O₁₂. The much lower sintering temperature 800°C comparing to the conventional method was attributed to the sol gel method. Conclusion: The long stirring time (one month) that had allowed self assembly of the anions and cations to form the gelatin. In addition the small radius of aluminium prefers to occupy the tetrahedron and octahedron sites instead of the much larger dodecahedron site resulted to the clear cubic structure of the garnet.