Effect on magnetic behaviour of Ag and Cd doped cobalt ferrite nanoparticles prepared by glycine-assisted sol-gel auto combustion method

The nanocomposites of the Silver (Ag) and cadmium (Cd) based, cobalt ferrite having formula AgxCdxCo1-2xFe2O4 (where x = 0.0, 0.05, and 0.1) have been successfully prepared by glycine-assisted Sol-gel derived auto combustion technique. The synthesized samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-visible spectrum, and Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM). The XRD and FTIR results reveal the formation of a single-phase cubic spinel structure with crystallite sizes 14-19 nm. SEM analysis of surface morphology revealed spherical and cubic-shaped nanoparticles. FTIR spectra indicated two fundamental absorption peaks around 580 cm-1 and 460 cm-1. This confirmed the existence of m-o bonding in the synthesized products corresponding to the stretching vibration of tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (B) lattice sites. According to UV-Visible analysis, it is observed that the optical band gap energies vary from 1.88 eV to 1.52 eV as the Ag/Cd concentration increased. From VSM data, the magnetic behavior of prepared specimens is studied and the corresponding variations in the (Ms), (Hc), (Mr), and Mr/Ms values are analyzed. This prepared composites materials are recommended for magnetic storage applications.