Structural and Magnetic Properties of CdCoFe2O4 Nanoparticles

We studied the structure, morphology, and magnetic (at room and low temperature) behavior of CdxCo1-xFe2O4 (x = 0.0-0.6) (CCFO) nanoparticles prepared via citrate gel auto combustion technique. The diffraction pattern indicated the formation of single phase cubic spinel structure. The average crystallite size (D) was altered from 37 to 42 nm with 'x'. The lattice constants were noticed to be increasing from 0.8419 to 0.8496 nm with 'x'. The unique morphology was observed for all samples. The saturation magnetization (M-s) was decreased from 28.4 to 3.8 emu/g for x = 0.0 to 0.6 Cd-content. The X-ray (d(x)) and experimental (d(E)) densities were observed to be increased from 5.222 +/- 0.013 to 5.777 +/- 0.020 g/c.c, and 5.351 +/- 0.020 to 5.619 +/- 0.019 g/c.c respectively. Furthermore, we observed that the coercivity was changed from 922 to 2600 Oe as a function of composition. The zero field cooled (ZFC) and field cooled (FC) curves of x = 0.5 content revealed the blocking temperature T-B similar to 359 K suggesting the superparamagnetic nature above T-B.