Magnetic and structural studies of nickel-substituted cobalt ferrite nanoparticles, synthesized by the sol-gel method

In this study Ni substituted cobalt ferrite nanoparticles (NixCo1−xFe2O4 where x=0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9) were prepared by the sol-gel method. Phase identification of the samples was performed by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) method and the mean crystallite sizes of the samples were obtained using Scherrer's formula. The results show that a minimum calcining temperature of 500 °C is required to obtain single phase spinel structures for all the samples. It was observed that the lattice parameter of the samples decreases from 8.350 to 8.300 Å with increasing Ni content. Morphology of the samples was investigated by a field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). Also mean particle sizes of the samples were obtained from FESEM images and there no relation between particle size and Ni content was found. Magnetic measurements were carried out on the cold pressed samples and the results show that saturation magnetization decreases as x increases. Curie temperatures of the samples were determined and the results show that by increasing x values their Curie temperatures increase. This increase was explained based on the change in superexchange interactions between magnetic ions by substitution of Ni ions in Co ferrite. Also the coercive forces of the samples decreased with increasing x values which was explained by the changes in magnetocrystalline anisotropy.