Structural, electrical and magnetic properties of Co-Cu ferrite nanoparticles

We report structural, electrical and magnetic properties of Cu doped Co ferrite nanoparticles prepared by sol-gel method. Analysis of structural properties has been carried out by using XRD and reveals that all samples have single phase cubic spinel structure. The permittivity (e), dielectric loss (tan delta) and ac conductivity (sigma(ac)) were determined at room temperature as a function of frequency. The results of dielectric properties indicated the normal Maxwell-Wagner type dielectric dispersion due to interfacial polarization. Complex impedance spectroscopic studies reveal that the conduction in these samples is through the grain boundaries. Room temperature magnetic hysteresis measurements infer that the saturation magnetization decreases with Cu doping which may be due to the difference of the magnetic moment of Cu and Fe ions. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.