Preparation and magnetic property analysis of monodisperse Co–Zn ferrite nanospheres

Monodisperse Co–Zn ferrite (Co1−xZnxFe2O4) nanospheres have been synthesized by the solvothermal method. In this process, glycol was used as a solvent, anhydrous sodium acetate was used as an alkalinity additive and polyethylene glycol 200 was used as a surfactant. The as-prepared samples were characterized in detail by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Results showed that a large number of high purity Co1−xZnxFe2O4 nanocrystallites were synthesized and these nanocrystallites underwent oriented aggregation to form nanospheres. The variation of saturation magnetization (Ms) value of the samples was studied. The maximum saturation magnetization value of the as-prepared sample (Co0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4) reached 64.6 emu g−1.