Influence of pH and fuels on the combustion synthesis, structural, morphological, electrical and magnetic properties of CoFe₂O₄ nanoparticles

Nanocrystalline spinel cobalt ferrite particles are synthesized by simple combustion method using aspartic acid and glycine as fuels. The single phase cubic structure of CoFe₂O₄ is revealed through X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). Further the Rietveld refinement confirms the formation of inverse spinel structure of CoFe₂O₄. The characteristic functional groups of Co–O and Fe–O are identified from Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) analysis. Uniform distribution of of nearly spherical particles with the size range of 40–80 nm is identified through field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) images. The calculated DC conductivity is 1.469 × 10⁻⁷ and 2.214 × 10⁻⁸ S cm⁻¹, for CoFe₂O₄ synthesized using aspartic acid and glycine, respectively. The dielectric behavior obeys the Maxwell–Wagner interfacial polarization. The ferromagnetic behavior of CoFe₂O₄ is identified using VSM analysis and the calculated coercivity is 27 Oe and saturation magnetization is 68 emu/g