Structural and magnetic properties of CuFe₂O₄ as-prepared and thermally treated spinel nanoferrites

Abstract

124-130The copper based CuFe2O4 nanoferrite was prepared by chemical co-precipitation method and the detailed investigation of structural and magnetic properties was carried out successfully at room temperature. The obtained results from XRD confirm that CuFe2O4 has tetragonal structure at room temperature and its crystallite size, lattice strain was found to be varied from 11 to 17 nm and <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">3.910-2 to 2.610-2 for microwave annealed to as-prepared samples calculated using Scherrer equation and Williamson-Hall analysis, respectively. A clear superparamagnetic behaviour was observed in as-prepared and hot air oven annealed nanoferrite samples at RT under the field range of ±2 T. A distorted superparamagnetic curve was determined from isothermal magnetic hysteresis studies for the microwave oven annealed sample. It might be a possible magnetic and non-magnetic cation transformation on the surface of CuFe2O4 nanoparticles along with high lattice strain resulting in change of magnetic properties under certain level of applied magnetic field. </span