Study on the influence of gelation promoter on the structural and magnetic properties of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles developed through sol-gel method

In this study, we have investigated structural and magnetic characteristics of cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) nanocrystalline powders prepared with different chelating agents/gelation promoters. Cobalt ferrite crystalline powders were prepared through sol-gel method with three gelation promoters namely, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), and polyethylene glycol (PEG). After initial characterization of the samples by X-ray diffraction, TEM, TG-DSC techniques, FTIR, and Mossbauer spectroscopy techniques, the magnetic properties of the samples were measured using VSM. The analysis of the results clearly indicated that the cobalt ferrite samples prepared with chelating agent of lower molecular weight (PEG) have exhibited high saturation magnetization. The reasons for such higher magnetization have been identified and discussed. TEM images of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles are synthesized using sol-gel method with different chelating agents/gelation promoters namely PVA, PVP and PEG.