Controlled Synthesis and Ferrimagnetism of Homogeneous Hierarchical CoFeO Particles.

Uniform, large, spherical, hierarchical CoFeO spinel particles have been successfully prepared by a modified polyol method using NaBH and NaOH, revealing controlled size, shape, and morphology with high crystallinity in a certain microscale range. Their inverse ABO-type crystal structure was intensively studied by x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Using stock solutions of CoCl and FeCl precursors in 1:2 ratio, CoFeO particles were formed well with high crystallinity in the best inverse spinel structure in space group Fd-3m. The fascinating ferrimagnetic and hysteretic properties of the as-prepared hierarchical CoFeO spinel particles were investigated by vibrating-sample magnetometry (VSM) at room temperature (RT). The results confirm formation of hierarchical CoFeO microscale particles with inverse-spinel ABO-type structure and high magnetization by modified polyol method with heat treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]