Structural and physical properties of the nano-crystalline Al-substituted Cr-Cu ferrite

Ferrite nanoparticles are promising future materials for applications in medicine, ferrofluids, technical designing and other fields. The as-prepared CuAlxCr0.8−xFe1.2O4 nanoparticles (0≤x≤0.8) have been prepared by the chemical co-precipitation method. A study of the structure and other physical properties of the samples was carried out by using X-ray, infrared, Mössbauer and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) patterns and particle size distributions. The results revealed the ultrafine nature of the particles, where the crystallite size and the average particle size have been deduced. The values of the lattice parameters and crystallite size were dependent on the substitution factor x, while the oxygen parameter was higher than the standard value and independent on x. In addition to six absorption bands, a triple band attributed to the retained water in the samples was observed in the infrared spectra. The absorption bands indicated the existence of Fe2+ ions in the sample sublattices. The Mössbauer and VSM patterns proved the presence of small magnetic field in the samples, where the saturation magnetization, coercivity, hyperfine interaction parameters, cation distributions and magnetization were dependent on x.