STUDY PHASE STRUCTURE, CATION DISTRIBUTION AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF COBALT, MAGNESIUM AND COPPER FERRITES

An analysis to the characteristics of Co, Mg and Cu ferrites that were prepared using sol-gel method and annealed at 800 degrees C for 1 hour, performed using X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy for structural characteristics, while the Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM), was used for the magnetic characteristics. The X-ray analysis of both cobalt and magnesium ferrites shows a reverse crystal structure of a cubic spinel, while copper ferrite shows a tetragonal crystal structure characteristic at this annealing temperature. The lattice constant (a) was found to be a=8.186 for CoFe2O4, a=8.199 for MgFe2O4 and a=5.969 for CuFe2O4. The Raman spectrum confirms a spinel crystalline form of the prepared ferrites where a likely distribution of cation is indicated at the tetrahedral and octahedral sites. The peaks of the Raman shift appear between 200-800cm-1. These peaks indicate the formation of ferrites. The hysteresis loop of CoFe2O4 indicates a hard magnet material. Cu ferrites have relatively lower remnants and magnetocrystalline anisotropy, which indicates soft magnetic characteristics even though it showed higher coercivity. The squareness ratio (Mr/Ms) values varied between 0.52, 0.13 and 0.57 for CoFe2O4, MgFe2O4 and CuFe2O4, respectively. These insights highlight the possibility of tuning the properties of ferrites using a cost-effective sol-gel method.