Sol-gel synthesis of substoichiometric cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) spinels: Influence of additives on their stoichiometry and magnetic properties

Spinel cobalt ferrites (CoFe2O4) with varying levels of substoichiometry were prepared via sol-gel synthesis with different combinations of citric acid, dextrose and PVP (polyvinylpyrrolidone). The gels, prepared from the metal nitrates, were dried at 110 °C, further treated at 850 °C and finally subjected to thorough structural and magnetic characterization in order to correlate the composition of the gel to the structural and magnetic properties displayed by the ferrites. The materials synthesized in the present work have shown to be rather iron-depleted, reaching over 50% deficiency of the metal, which leaves the spinel lattice and forms Fe2O3 instead. The fuel/oxidant ratio and the thermal behavior of the xerogels exert a direct influence on the compositional variation of the prepared spinels, which could in turn be correlated to the magnetic properties displayed by the particles. A maximum in coercivity of 2154.4 Oe was achieved without the application of any additive to the nitrate precursors. On the other hand, the magnetic remanence displayed by the ferrites shows a linear relationship to the iron content in their chemical formula. The results open up the possibility of fine-tuning the structural and magnetic properties displayed by the spinel product via careful control of the composition of the reaction medium.