Effect of nanoconfinement on the formation, structural transition and magnetic behavior of mesoporous copper ferrite

Superparamagnetic, cubic single phase, ordered mesoporous copper ferrite is synthesized through confinement in nanocages of mesoporous silica. The heat generated during the reaction is conserved in the silica template pore channels, which allows the formation of copper ferrite at a relatively low processing temperature. The Jahn-Teller distortion is suppressed due to the effect of nanoconfinement and thus the high temperature phase of cubic copper ferrite is stabilized at room temperature. The particle size obtained from TEM, the crystallite size calculated from XRD and the magnetic domain size estimated from magnetization measurements are all in good agreement, manifesting the significant role of the confinement in the growth and fabrication of crystalline, single magnetic domain, nanoparticles with superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature. (C) 2014 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.