Effect of Cr3+ substitution on the structural and magnetic properties of Co-Cu-Zn nano ferrites

Abstract

Nano-ferrite materials with chemical compositions Co0.5Cu0.45Zn0.05Fe2-xCrxO4 (x = 0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, and 0.25) (Co-Cu-Zn) nano ferrite materials were synthesized through the sol–gel auto-combustion method, and analytical characterizations of their structural and magnetic properties were conducted. Utilizing the Debye-Scherrer equation, the average crystallite sizes of the synthesized samples were determined to range from 37.25 nm to 53.56 nm, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) examination verified the synthesis of a single-phase cubic spinel structure. Microstructural and morphological properties were investigated using Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) scanning, revealing grains in the nano-scale range. Two distinct peaks were observed at approximately 595 cm−1 and 392 cm−1, providing information about the functional groups of the samples’ chemical characteristics according to Fourier transform infrared analysis (FTIR). Room temperature vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analysis provided magnetic information on the materials, presenting various values of magnetic parameters. The samples’ hysteresis curves showed that the saturation magnetization and coercivity almost decreased when the dopant concentration in the host Co-Cu-Zn is increased.