Investigating XRF parameters and valance electronic structure of the Co, Ni, and Cu spinel ferrites

Abstract In the present study, K X-ray emission spectra of Cu, Ni, Co spinel ferrite (MFe2O4) alloys obtained with a HPGe detector by inducing 59.54 keV and 22.1 keV γ-rays emitted from 3 Ci 241Am annular source and 40 mCi 109Cd point source. The data obtained were evaluated in terms of the K β / K α X-ray intensity ratios, the full width at half maximum (FWHM) values, asymmetry index ( A s ), peak energies and chemical shifts ( Δ E ) depending on the alloying effect. In addition, calculated K β / K α intensity ratios, which is used to determine the electron number changes in the orbitals for Cu, Ni, Co, Fe elements in the alloys, were compared with the results of Multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock (MCDF) calculations. It has been observed that chemical shifts in the spectra have been occurred upon alloying due to crystal structure, valence electron structure, bond type and length. It has been also concluded that the X-ray intensity ratios and the 3d electron densities of the pure ferrite have influenced by the alloying transition elements. It has been observed that the charge transfer mechanism predominates mainly due to the different electronegativity of the elements in the alloys.