An extensive study of electrical properties of MnFe2O4 nano-ferrite

Nanocrystalline manganese ferrite (MnFe2O4) was prepared through a citrate gel route and characterized for its detailed electrical properties. The XRD result indicates the formation of a single-phase cubic spinel structure having Fd-3m space group and the average crystallite size was found to be 21.31 nm. The variations of dielectric constant (ε′), dielectric loss (tanδ) and ac (σac) conductivity were studied as a function of temperature (23-300 °C) at different frequencies. The dielectric parameters such as dielectric constant, loss tangent and ac conductivity were found to increase with increasing temperature due to hopping of charge carriers between Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions and Maxwell-Wagner type of interfacial polarization. The DC electrical resistivity measurement was carried out by two-probe method in the temperature range of 35-120 °C which showed decrease in the resistivity with increasing temperature confirmally the typical semiconducting behavior of the sample.