Effect of the thermal treatment on the magnetic and structural properties of cobalt ferrite particles

We herein report a study on the sol-gel synthesis of CoFe2O4 and the effect of thermal treatment on the product outcome. Xerogels treated at 750, 800 and 850 °C had their structural and magnetic properties thoroughly studied, in order to correlate their synthesis conditions to the positions in which the cations are inserted in the spinel structure. X-ray diffractograms exhibit reflections representative of the spinel structure and demonstrate that the thermal treatment does not affect the lattice parameters of the material. Mossbauer spectroscopy studies indicate a very low inversion degree in the synthesized spinels, which is very unusual for CoFe2O4. A maximum in coercivity of 1405.2 Oersted was achieved for the sample treated at 800 °C.