Development of chromium ion substituted Zn-Co-Ca-Fe-Ba ferrites for energy storage applications

Ferrites are most extensively studied materials primarily due to their unique and diverse characteristics. Thus, chromium doped Zn0.25Co0.5Ca0.25Fe1.97Ba0.03-yCryO4 (y = 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03) ferrites were easily and economically synthesized via a sol-gel auto combustion method, and their dielectric, magnetic and molecular vibrational were thoroughly characterized. The existence of three active molecular vibrational modes A1g, T2g, and Eg was verified by Raman spectroscopy. Frequency-dependent dielectric characteristics were measured using the LCR meter. The frequency range of 4 Hz to 8 MHz has been used to study the dielectric property. While ac conductivity shows an increasing trend with increasing frequency, capacitance and impedance decrease as frequency increases. This comparative analysis enables researchers to select materials suitable for energy storage applications, particularly lithium-ion batteries, based on their desired dielectric properties. Furthermore, the observed hysteresis loop revealed a decrease in retentivity (Mr), saturation magnetization (Ms), and coercive field (Hc).