Synthesis Techniques of Nickel Substituted Cobalt Ferrites – An Investigative Study Using Structural Data

Abstract

Structural properties of nickel-substituted cobalt ferrite nano-particles Ni x Co 1-x Fe 2 O 4 (x=0.2,0.8) synthesized using two different methods, namely combustion and co-precipitation are studied. The structural parameters of Nickel-substituted Cobalt ferrite nano-particles confirm the formation of nano-sized particles of cubic spinel structure. Lattice parameters, density, particle size and inhomogeneity are determined while Attenuated total reflectance (ATR-IR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope images are studied. The ATR-IR spectra show transmission peaks, in the range around 600cm -1 and 400 cm -1 which respectively arise from tetrahedral and octahedral interstitial sites in the spinel lattice and found cationic exchanges between the lattices of these sites. The studies reveal that the sol–gel auto combustion method can be preferred to the co-precipitation method for producing single phase nano particles with smaller crystallite size