Cation distribution and micro level magnetic alignments in the nanosized nickel zinc ferrite

► Presence of noncollinear magnetic alignments in Ni-Zn ferrite nano systems. ► Population of the octahedral and tetrahedral sites unchanged with particle size. ► Coercivity and saturation magnetization values decreasing with particle size. ► Superparamagnetic behaviour found to decreases with increase in particle size. ► Bond lengths vary with temperature and affect the magnetic moment values.