The influence of La-substituted Cu0.5Co0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles on its structural and magnetic properties

• XRD indicates that all diffraction peaks widen with increasing amounts of lanthanum.
• Mössbauer analysis exhibits Zeeman-split due to Fe3+ ions at tetrahedral and octahedral Sites.
• Hyperfine fields of A/B-sites first increase and then decrease with increased La content.

Lanthanum substituted cobalt ferrite Cu0.5Co0.5Fe2−xLaxO4 (x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05) powders have been prepared by a sol–gel method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicate the production of a single phase cubic-spinel structure. Both the lattice parameter and grain size decrease with the substitution of La3+ ions. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) shows that the ferrite powers are nanoparticles. Room temperature Mössbauer spectra of Cu0.5Co0.5Fe2−xLaxO4 are two normal Zeeman-split sextets, which display ferrimagnetic behavior. The saturation magnetization, coercivity and residual magnetization increase at first and then decrease with the incorporation of La3+.

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