Facile synthesis, thermal, magnetic, Raman characterizations of spinel structure ZnMn₂O₄

Spinel structure ZnMn₂O₄ was synthesized by a facile method with lower reaction temperature, shorter reaction time and without regrinding starting materials compared with the traditional solid state reactions. A reaction mechanism was deduced according to the analysis results. The obtained ZnMn₂O₄ shows high crystalline quality with high degree of dispersion for metals ions and the absence of phase separation or clustering. ZnMn₂O₄ shows a phase transition at about 600 °C instead of a decomposition reaction in the temperature range of 20-1100 °C and an antiferromagnetic behavior with the Néel temperature of about 15 K. Six Raman modes are observed in the room temperature Raman spectrum of ZnMn₂O₄.