Synthesis and characterization of low temperature superparamagnetic cobalt ferrite nanoparticles

Cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) nanoparticles were synthesized by co-precipitation route at 80 °C. X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD) confirmed cubic inverse spinel structure of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles. The average crystallite size of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles estimated by X-ray line profile fitting was 12±2 nm for high-intensity peak (311). The particle size, distribution and surface morphology was estimated using Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with average particle size of 16±2 nm. Raman spectra of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles exhibits phonon modes corresponding to tetrahedral sites (679 cm -1 ) and octahedral sites (465 cm -1 ) respectively. The saturation magnetization Ms for CoFe2O4 sample is found to be 63 and 82 emu/g at 300 K and 10 K respectively. The cubic magnetic anisotropy constant K1 and saturation magnetization Ms are obtained by fitting M versus H isotherm to the saturation approach law. By fitting, K1 and Ms is 2.16 x10 5 J/m 3 and 66 emu/g respectively at 300 K. The cubic magnetic