Requisite of Surfactant (CTAB, n-Heptane, and Tri-sodium Citrate) Levels on Enhancement of Magnetic Property and Morphology Changes of Barium Ferrite (BaFe2O4) Nanoparticles

Abstract

The barium ferrite (BaFe2O4) nanoparticles were synthesized through auto-combustion method using surfactants (CTAB, n-heptane, tri-sodium citrate) with three different mole ratios such as 0.04 M, 0.06 M, and 0.08 M. The variation of mole concentration of surfactants affects the particle size, morphology, and magnetic properties of barium ferrite nanoparticles. This work has optimized the mole concentration of respective surfactants and identifies the best performance of surfactant in barium ferrite nanoparticles. After calcination, the formation of barium ferrite (BaFe2O4) was observed by XRD. The prominent orientation of (212) was to perceive for all concentration of surfactants. Specific vibration on 770 cm−1 indicated the formation of barium ferrite (BaFe2O4) in FTIR analysis. In metallic vibration occurred small shift from 469.23 to 464.10 cm−1 due to change in particle size. Spherical-, platelet-, and rod-shaped particles were founded which was clearly visualized from FESEM and TEM images. The impact of best performance of surfactant in morphological change was identified as n-heptane. The VSM results revealed the highest saturation magnetization (Ms) as 32.52 emu/g with 4228 Oe coercivity (Hc). These results showed the ferromagnetic behaviour and different surfactants were supported for this strong behaviour of barium ferrite nanoparticles. Dielectric constant also changed from 45.11 to 88.52 for different surfactants in barium ferrite nanoparticles, which was observed by dielectric analysis.