Magnetic cation distribution in a nanocrystalline Fe(3)O(4) spinel

Abstract

Neutron diffraction study of nanostructured magnetite was performed at room temperature. The actual grain-size was determined from evaluation of X-ray diffraction profiles by the modified Williamson-Hall plot. The atomic structure parameters and the sublattice magnetic moments were determined using the Rietveld refinement of the neutron diffraction spectra. The sublattice magnetization at the octahedral sites decreases with decreasing grain-size, while it remains practically constant at the tetrahedral sites