Preparation of magnetic material containing MgFe2O4 spinel ferrite from a Mg–Fe(III) layered double hydroxide intercalated by hexacyanoferrate(III) ions

In this research communication, a novel method for improving magnetic properties of material containing MgFe2O4 spinel ferrite is presented. The key feature of this method is using a single molecular precursor. Mg–Fe(III) layered double hydroxide intercalated by [Fe(CN)6]3− ions with the low Mg/Fe molar ratio can be prepared by coprecipitation method. Compared with conventional ceramic method, the saturation magnetization for MgFeO4 ferrite produced by calcination of the intercalated LDH precursor is improved obviously. The major advantage of the method is that it affords uniform distribution of all metal cations on an atomic level in the intercalated LDH precursor, and supplies additional Fe3+ ions from the interlayer [Fe(CN)6]3− ions; hence the formation of a great amount of spinel ferrite starting from the LDH rather than a mixture requires a much shorter time and lower temperature.