Enhanced magnetic properties of doped cobalt ferrite nanoparticles by virtue of cation distribution

Enhancement of magnetic moment as well as magnetocrystalline anisotropy constants is very much required for the device application of cobalt ferrites. We are able to achieve enhanced magnetic properties of nanocrystalline cobalt ferrite by virtue of suitable doping. Pure, Mn and Ni doped cobalt ferrite nanoparticles have been synthesized using facile soft chemical route. XRD analysis using Rietveld refinement technique confirms the growth of pure, single phase cobalt ferrite nanoparticles, which corroborates with TEM study. The observed increase in saturation magnetization for the doped samples can be attributed to the migration of Co2+ ions from B site to A site and hence Fe3+ ions from A site to B site. Detailed magnetic analysis using Law of Approach, shows an increase of different magnetic properties like anisotropy constant, anisotropy field, coercivity for the doped samples, could be due to the increase in magnetic interaction between two sites due to different cation distribution. A structure property correlation has been established by proposing a cation distribution which enables us to explain the enhancement of magnetic properties. (C) 2014 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.