Structural Properties of CoFe2O4 and CoFe1.6Mo0.4O4 Prepared by Chemical Method

Abstract

The current study examined the structural characteristics of two spinel ferrite materials: cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) and molybdenum-doped cobalt ferrite (CoFe2-xMoxO4) (CMFO) with x=0.4. The chemical method successfully created magnetic nanoparticles of CoFe2O4 and CoFe1.6Mo0.4O4. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) were used for the structural and morphological characterization. XRD patterns confirmed the presence of cubic phases in the composites. Furthermore, the XRD results indicated that the nanoparticles' structures displayed a mixed phase of CoFe2O4 and CoFe1.6Mo0.4O4, with an average crystalline size ranging from 15.166 to 19.638 nm, including the effect of Mo. According to FESEM images, the produced ferrite particles were aggregated and fairly round. The CoFe2O4 image showed diameters between 67 and 277 nm, whereas the CoFe1.6Mo0.4O4 image showed diameters between 59 and 360 nm. There was an emission line for oxygen (O) and emission lines for metals (Fe, Mo, and Co) in the EDX spectra. AFM was used for the surface topography investigation. Nanostructures with average sizes ranging from 123.4 to 94.7 nm were evenly distributed in the AFM images.