Eco-friendly synthesis of nano-sized cobalt ferrites and influence of pH variation on structural properties

Abstract

This report presents the synthesis of cobalt ferrite (CoFe₂O₄) by co-precipitation method and its subsequent characterization by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscope (AFM), TG-DTA and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques. XRD results confirm the formation of single phase cubic spinel structure, having lattice constant from 8.4029 Å to 8.3744 Å. We also report hopping length (L_A and L_B), strain (ɛ) and dislocation density (ρ_D) of ferrite sample. AFM images show the microstructure of ferrite samples. The TG-DTA of sample CoFe₂O₄ of pH 8, confirms the formation of final product at 683 °C. The FTIR curves for CoFe₂O₄ series shows two major peaks near 492 cm⁻¹ and 442 cm⁻¹ which are assigned to the tetrahedral and octahedral sites, respectively, in a spinel structure.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Cobalt ferrite
• spinel lattice
• hopping length
• strain
• dislocation density
• tetrahedral and octahedral complexes

Acknowledgments

The authors thank B.V.B. College of Engineering and Technology, Hubli, University Sophisticated Instrumentation Centre (USIC), Karnatak University Dharwad and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India for providing spectral analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.