Cation distribution in nanocrystalline Al3+ and Cr3+ co-substituted CoFe2O4

CoAlxCrxFe2-2xO4 spinel ferrite systems (where x = 0.1 to 0.5 in steps of x = 0.1) were synthesized by wet chemical co-precipitation technique, aiming to study the relationship between cation distribution and concentration of the simultaneous substitution of Al3+ and Cr3+ ions. The Al3+ and Cr3+ site occupancies show nearly linear composition dependence. The obtained results show, that both Al3+ and Cr3+ ions predominately occupy the octahedral B-site. This is consistent with their preference for large octahedral site energy. The concentration of Al3+ and Cr3+ ions in octahedral sites increases while that of Fe3+ ions decreases linearly. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.