Structural, morphological, and magnetic properties of Zn_xCo_1-xFe₂O₄ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) prepared using a chemical co-precipitation method

In the present study, the chemical co-precipitation technique was adopted to synthesize Zn_xCo_1-xFe₂O₄ (ZCF) (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) ferrites. The thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis results revealed that above 405 °C, the precursor had decomposed and ferrite formation had occurred. The structure and morphology of the prepared ferrite nanoparticles were investigated using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The synthesized polycrystalline nanoparticles had a cubic spinel structure and the crystallite size was in the range of 6.09–12.98 nm. The prepared ferrites appeared as nearly spherical nanoparticles with a particle size in between 0.13 and 0.23 µm, as confirmed using FE-SEM. The elemental composition was determined using the energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy technique. The influence of the Zn-substituted cobalt ferrites (ZCF) on the structural, morphological, and magnetic properties were studied. The magnetic properties of the ZCF samples such as saturation magnetization, remanence magnetization, and coercivity measured at room temperature were 0.387–2.065 emu/g, 0.057–1.282 emu/g, and 60–1834 Oe, respectively. It was confirmed from the nature of the hysteresis loops that the given ZCF samples can be considered as a soft magnetic material.