Magnetic Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Characterization and Magnetic Properties of Cobalt Aluminum Ferrite

Nanoparticles of the ferrite system CoFe(2-x)Al(x)O4 (x = 0.0, 0.3, 0.7 and 1.0) were synthesized through the co-precipitation technique. Thermal decomposition process and formation of a single crystalline phase were followed using thermal differential analysis technique (DTA). X-ray powder diffraction patterns of the samples confirmed the formation of a nano-size single spinel phase. The average crystallite size was found to be in the range 20-63 nm for all samples. This was further confirmed by TEM of one of the samples, with concentration x = 1.0 which was found statistically to be 27 nm. This agrees well with the value of 24 nm deduced by means of X-ray diffraction method for the same sample. A considerable decrease in the intensity of the octahedral bands is observed as the aluminum concentration increases, and even vanishes completely at x = 1.0 indicating the migration of cations between the octahedral and tetrahedral sites. The magnetic hysteresis loops at room temperature showed decrease in both, coercivity and saturation magnetization as the non-magnetic Al3+ ions content increases. The relative values of M(r0/M(s) were found to be between 0.44 and 0.31 for the samples with a remarkable change in the squareness of the loops. This is highly beneficial for the microwave and memory devices applications of these nano sized ferrite system.