Microwave combustion synthesis of zinc substituted nanocrystalline spinel cobalt ferrite: Structural and magnetic studies

Zinc doped cobalt ferrite spinel nanoparticles were prepared by the microwave combustion method. All the samples were characterized by using X-ray diffraction technique (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometry. The XRD patterns confirmed the formation of single phase CoFe2O4 inverse spinel structure without impurities. The lattice parameter increased from 8.380 to 8396 angstrom with increasing Zn2+ fraction. The average crystallite sizes obtained by a Scherrer method varied between 46.22 nm and 30.79 nm. The estimated band gap energy values increases with an increasing zinc fraction (1.88-2.10 eV). The elemental composition of Zn, Co, and Fe was qualitatively obtained from energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.