LOW TEMPERATURE SYNTHESIS OF MAGNESIUM DOPED COBALT FERRITE NANOPARTICLES AND THEIR STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES

Abstract: The present work focuses on the effect of magnesium (Mg2+) substitution on structural studies of the nanocrystalline cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4). Nanosized magnesium doped cobalt ferrite powders with general formula Co1-xMgxFe2O4 (for x = 0.0, 0.50 and 1.0) were synthesized by sol-gel auto combustion method starting from metal nitrates and citric acid (C6H8O7) as a fuel. The prepared samples were sintered at 550 ˚C for 4 h. The structural properties were estimated from X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies. The average particle size was calculated by using Debye Scherer's formula using XRD data and is obtained to be 11-24 nm. The bulk densities (dB) of all the samples were measured using Archimedes principle. The other structural parameters such as tetrahedral bond length (dAX), octahedral bond length (dBX), tetra edge (dAXE) and octa edge (dBXE) were calculated from XRD data.  

Keywords: cobalt ferrite, nanocrystalline, sol-gel, XRD.