Cation distribution of Mn-Zn ferrite nanoparticles using pair distribution function analysis and resonant X-ray scattering

Mn-Zn ferrite nanoparticles were synthesized by chemical co-precipitation method and analysed using X-ray synchrotron diffraction data. Pair distribution function (PDF) analysis was used to probe the local structure and revealed that the first-neighbour distances of Fe-Fe and Mn-Zn in the 3.0 up to 3.5 Å range are different from the ones usually reported in the literature. For the sample with the best magnetic behaviour, resonant X-ray scattering (RXS) using three energies close to the absorption edges of Mn, Zn and Fe was applied to determine the cation distribution which explained the previous result from PDF analysis.