Improvement of scandium ion substitution on the initial permeability and saturation magnetization of nickel-zinc-cobalt ferrite for high-frequency devices

NiZnCo ferrite has a wide range of applications in high-frequency devices, but its performance can be further improved to meet more requirements. In this work, Sc 3+ -substituted Ni 0.5 Zn 0.4 Co 0.1 Sc x Fe 2-x O 4 (NZCScF, 0 ≤  x  ≤ 0.1) ferrite soft magnetic materials were successfully prepared by sol–gel self-propagating approach. After using Sc 3+ doping, the dielectric loss and dielectric constant are significantly reduced. The intensity of the coercive field decreases significantly with a rise in the Sc 3+ content. It is noteworthy that after adding Sc 3+ ions, the saturation magnetization can reach 94.27 emu/g, an increase of about 27%, and the initial permeability is increased by about 73%. In the high-frequency scope, the magnetic losses increase very little and up to 100 MHz the magnetic losses remain low. In conclusion, Sc 3+ substitution effectively improves the electromagnetic properties of NiZnCo ferrite and greatly enhances the saturation magnetization and initial permeability. It can serve as a guide for the material application of a series of high-frequency devices such as radio-frequency microwave devices.