Fabrication of textured CoFe2O4 ceramics by a novel RTGG method using rod-like α-FeOOH particles as templates

A textured CoFe2O4 ceramic was fabricated by reactive template grain growth (RTGG) method using rod-like α-FeOOH particles as templates. The template particles were synthesized by hydrothermal method, the particles showed good crystallization and rod-like shape with a diameter of 0.1-0.2 μm and an aspect ratio of 20-50. {ll0} oriented CoFe2O4 ceramic was obtained after a sintering process. The ceramic sintered at 1150 °C for 4 h showed dense and oriented structure with orientation degree of 0.89. Different magnetic hysteresis loops were observed along the in-plane and out-of-plane direction of the textured CoFe2O4, which was due to anisotropy properties of the sample. The textured ceramic exhibited an in-plane Ms enhancement (355 emu/cm3) compared to that of the non-textured ceramics (320 emu/cm3) in the same sintering conditions.