Effects of co-substitution on dielectric, magnetic properties and magnetoelectric coupling in nano CoFe2O4

In the present investigations few compositions of Co1-xZnxFe2-xLaxO4 (x=0.0, 0.1 and 0.3) nano particles of magnetic ferrite were synthesized by chemical co-precipitation method. The powder X-ray diffraction study reveals that the particle size decreases from 13 nm to 11 nm on account of co-substitution in cobalt ferrite. The co-substitution of Zn2+/La3+ into CoFe2O4 enhances dielectric response with low loss similar to 1.03 for Co0.7Zn0.3Fe1.7La0.3O4 for 10 kHz at 300 K. The temperature dependent dielectric and magnetic studies of Co0.7Zn0.3Fe1.7La0.3O4 reflect a coupling between dielectric and magnetic parameters near the magnetic transition temperature (T-c approximate to 616 K), which is responsible for the frequency dispersion of dielectric maxima. This provides the first evidence on the magnetoelectric coupling in CoFe2O4 system arising on account of Zn2+/La3+ co-substitution. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.