Physical properties of Pr-substituted Li/Ni ferrite magnetic materials at nanometric scale for its multifunctional applications in industries/environment and their cytotoxicity, lymphocyte studies as nanomedicine

• Published in: Applied nanoscience Vol. 11; no. 12; pp. 2847 - 2859
• Main Authors: Kumar, Nishant, Singh, Rakesh Kumar, Kumar, Vivek, Das, Shashank Bhushan, Ahmed, Gufran, Narayan, Shyam, Kumari, Rekha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.12.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biocompatibility; Chemistry and Materials Science; Coercivity; Crystallites; Cubic lattice; Cytotoxicity; Ferrites; Iron; Lattice strain; Lymphocytes; Magnetic materials; Magnetic properties; Magnetic saturation; Materials Science; Medical science; Membrane Biology; Metal ions; Morphology; Nanochemistry; Nanomaterials; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Optical properties; Optoelectronics; Original Article; Physical properties; Praseodymium; Rare earth elements; Spleen; Substitutes; Toxicity; Water purification; Biocompatible; Nanomaterials; Magnetic; Physical properties; Nanomedicine
• ISSN: 2190-5509; 2190-5517
• DOI: 10.1007/s13204-021-02198-4

The rare earth element praseodymium (Pr)-substituted Li/Ni ferrite nanomaterial, Li 0.5 Ni 0.5 Pr x Fe 2− x O 4 ( x  = 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03) has been prepared using cost-effective citrate precursor method. The ferrite magnetic materials are iron-oxide-based materials and at nanometric scale very promising for its multifunctional applications in electronics industries, purification of water and as nanomedicine. In this present research, structural, surface morphology, optical, electronic, and magnetic properties together with cytotoxicity and lymphoproliferation on murine spleen cells have been studied. The X-ray diffraction measurement reveals the formation of pure cubic spinel structure having space group Fd3m. The lattice parameter shows a slight decrement. Furthermore, crystallite size and lattice strain were calculated using W–H plot and show the decrement from 37 to 21 nm with substitution of praseodymium ion. Surface morphology and nanometric scale particle size measurements were carried away using SEM and HRTEM analysis for lattice plane and d -spacing. The bond length was found to increase, while the force constant was found to decrease by the increment of Pr atom. The indirect band gap energies were improved with the substitution of rare-earth ion. The saturation magnetization value was found between 33.5 and 6.73 emu/g for Li 0.5 Ni 0.5 Pr x Fe 2− x O 4 ferrites. The coercivity was estimated in between 185.24 and 98.78Oe for Li–Ni-nanoferrite system. In addition, the observed in vitro cytotoxicity and lymphoproliferative results appeared to be biocompatible and concentrations dependent, as studied by MTT and BrdU assays. The present research results indicate that rare earth element Pr-substituted ferrite magnetic nanomaterial may be applied in transformer cores because of reduced coercivity in opto-electronic instruments owing to improved optical properties and as iron-oxide-based nanomaterials for its uses in health and medical science sector.