Microstructural, thermal, electrical and magnetic analysis of Mg 2+ substituted Cobalt ferrite

Magnetic nanoparticles of Co1–xMgxFe2O4 (x = 0, 0.08, 0.16, and 0.24) were prepared using sol–gel technique with auto-combustion. Citric acid was used as a chelating agent. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies showed that the lattice constant of cobalt ferrite decreases with the rise of magnesium proportion. Field-effect Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) was used for the morphological study of the powdered ferrites. Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) gave the compositional analysis of the samples. Two major vibrational frequencies from the Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectroscopy validate the spinel cubic ferrite structure. Raman spectroscopy exposes a doublet-like peak behaviour in A1g and Eg modes as a result of different ionic radius of ions belonging to Mg/Co and Fe. The magnetic parameters like saturation magnetization, coercivity, and remanent were also thoroughly analysed against the increase in the Mg-density in cobalt ferrite. The DC electrical resistivity is found to increase with Mg concentration. The room temperature, electrical and dielectric properties were investigated in the frequency range between 100 and 5 MHz. The observed results were related to the microstructural characteristic and amount of Mg dopants.