Electronic and magnetic properties of FeCr2O4 nanoparticles by advanced synchrotron based soft X-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Multifunctional materials are now being considered for a variety of technical uses. The iron-chromite spinel FeCr2O4 NPs generated by the sol-gel process has been studied experimentally in this paper. The material crystallized into a cubic form, according to structural analysis based on x-ray diffraction. The Vibrating Sample Magnetometer, Soft-x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and soft-x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) were used to explore the electronic and magnetic structures of FeCr2O4 NPs. Cr ions have trivalent Cr3+ and Fe ions have divalent Fe2+ states present here. The Fe 3d states have a high degree of hybridization with the O 2p states. The Fe and Cr 2p XMCD analysis shows antiparallel alignment of Cr and Fe spins, as well as remarkable hybridization of Fe 3d and O 2p electrons.