Effect of Mn2+ substitution on the structural, morphological and magnetic properties of copper ferrite nanoparticles

In this paper, various concentrations of Mn(1-x) Cu-(x) Fe2O4 (where x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0) nanoparticles were synthesised via co-precipitation technique. From the X-ray diffraction pattern, except Mn0.2Cu0.8Fe2O4 sample, all other samples belong to polycrystalline cubic spinel ferrite structure with an average crystallites size of 18-20 nm. The Scanning Electron Microscopy analysis shows all the materials are in nano range. The particle size increases with respect to the Mn2+ concentration. While at low concentration of manganese offered the spherical nanoparticles. The chemical compositions of the samples were identified by EDAX spectra. The room temperature Vibrating Sample Magnetometer measurement confirms the superparamagnetic behaviour of the samples, which depicts the nano crystalline nature. The saturation magnetisation value increases with increase in concentration of copper ions. The crystallographic parameters were calculated by UNIT CELL software, which attributes the decrease in cell volume is the main contribution to enhance the magnetisation value.