Impact of Co2+ Substitution on Microstructure and Magnetic Properties of CoxZn1-xFe2O4 Nanoparticles

In the present work, we synthesized Co_xZn_1-xFe₂O₄ spinel ferrite nanoparticles (x= 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4) via the precipitation and hydrothermal-joint method. Structural parameters were cross-verified using X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and electron microscopy-based techniques. The magnetic parameters were determined by means of vibrating sample magnetometry. The as-synthesized Co_xZn_1-xFe₂O₄ nanoparticles exhibit high phase purity with a single-phase cubic spinel-type structure of Zn-ferrite. The microstructural parameters of the samples were estimated by XRD line profile analysis using the Williamson-Hall approach. The calculated grain sizes from XRPD analysis for the synthesized samples ranged from 8.3 to 11.4 nm. The electron microscopy analysis revealed that the constituents of all powder samples are spherical nanoparticles with proportions highly dependent on the Co doping ratio. The Co_xZn_1-xFe₂O₄ spinel ferrite system exhibits paramagnetic, superparamagnetic and weak ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature depending on the Co²⁺ doping ratio, while ferromagnetic ordering with a clear hysteresis loop is observed at low temperatures (5K). We concluded that replacing Zn²⁺ ions with Co²⁺ ions changes both the structural and magnetic properties of ZnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles.