Conductivity dynamics of metallic-to-insulator transition near room temperature in normal spinel CoFe2O4 nanoparticles

Herein, we report the preparation of minute CoFe2O4 nanoparticles which exhibit an unusually normal spinel characteristic and a metallic behavior at room temperature that has not yet been reported in the literature for such materials. A study on the synthesis and characterization of these nanoparticles and the effect of cation distribution on electrical properties was conducted. A xerogel was treated at 300 °C for 20 hours and the as-synthesized powder was structurally and electrically characterized. X-ray diffraction studies indicate that the synthesis pathway was successful in producing crystalline nanoparticles under such mild conditions. TEM images demonstrate that CoFe2O4 consists of monodispersed nanocrystalline particle aggregates with a particle size of ∼10 nm. Mössbauer spectroscopy investigation shows a normal spinel configuration, which is highly unusual for cobalt ferrite. Impedance analyses confirm that the material has a metallic characteristic at temperatures close to room temperature which arises as a consequence of octahedral site occupancy. Above 100 °C, the material displays a metallic-to-insulator transition, which has been related to the predominant OLPT conduction mechanism. An endothermic peak in the DSC curve indicates the occurrence of a structural transition which was associated with the Verwey-type reordering of charged metallic atoms.