Comparative study of the structural and magnetic properties of two cobalt ferrite nanocrystals produced with different iron precursors

•Crystalline Co ferrite nanoparticles were produced by polyol method.•The nature of the precursor clearly affects the stoichiometry and the local structure.•Magnetic properties strongly depend on the stoichiometry and the local structure.

We present a comparative study of two cobalt ferrite nanoparticles (CFNPs) produced by the polyol method using two different iron ions precursors. Performing simple characterization techniques including X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and FTIR on both as-prepared CFNPs and corresponding annealed ones, we showed that the nature of the precursor clearly affects the stoichiometry and the local structure of CFNPs, which in turn change drastically their magnetic properties.