Tailoring the structural, optical and multiferroic properties of low temperature synthesized cobalt ferrite nanomaterials, by citrate precursor method

Abstract

The pure phase of CoFe2O4 nanomaterials was successfully synthesized by citrate precursor method at an annealing temperature of 500 °C. The prepared material was further characterized by XRD, FTIR spectroscopy, PL spectroscopy, Uv–Vis spectroscopy, SEM and precision multiferroic system. The cubic phase formation with a crystallite size of approximately 29 nm was identified by XRD. The molecular vibration wavenumbers were found in-between 466 and 3439 cm−1 by FTIR spectroscopy. The Fe-O bond at 466 cm−1 and Co-O bond at 578 cm−1 indicate the spinel phase yield of CoFe2O4. The Uv–Vis spectroscopy of prepared ferrite has shown a direct and indirect band gap of 3.73 and 3.49 eV, respectively. The PL studies revealed the emission wavelength between 457 and 518 nm where the prominent peak was observed at 481.45 nm which represents a prominent blue emission. From the SEM analysis, the agglomerated nanoparticles were observed with an average grain size of 2.93 µm, approximately. Furthermore, the multiferroic analysis at 3 KV, indicate an open-mouth shape of the P-E plot of prepared cobalt ferrite. The multiferroic parameters of synthesized material such as coercive field (Ec), remanent polarization (Pr) and saturation polarization (Ps) were found to be 11.48 KV/cm, 4.26 µC/cm2 and 6.21 µC/cm2 respectively. The high P-E loop area represents a high leakage current of prepared ferrite and consequently, the loop resembles a lossy conductor. The high band gap, excellent photoluminescence and lossy conducting P-E loop may contribute towards better electronic properties for possible applications in the electronics industry.