Synthesis of the nanocrystalline CoFe2O4 ferrite thin films by a novel sol–gel method using glucose as an additional agent

Highlights: ► A new technique to synthesize Co-ferrite nanocrystalline thin film using glucose as an addition agent is proposed. ► The effects of thermal treatment on the microstructure, morphology and magnetic properties have been established. ► The film annealed at 300 °C has the crystallite size of 10 nm and the grain sizes of films annealed up to 600 °C are still small. - Abstract: Polycrystalline and nanometer-sized CoFe2O4 ferrite thin films are successfully synthesized using glucose as an addition agent. The thermal gravimetric/differential thermal analyzer, X-ray diffractometer, electron diffraction, scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscope and vibrating sample magnetometer are used to characterize the effects of the calcination temperature on the crystalline structure, morphology and magnetic properties of the Co-ferrite thin films. CoFe2O4 ferrite thin films have a single phase inverse spinel structure and are crystallized at and above 300 °C which is much lower than the required temperature in the traditional ceramic method (about 500–600 °C). Co-ferrite thin films annealed at relative low temperature of 400 °C show very small particle size with average of 32 nm and excellent magnetic properties for information storage applications.