Characterization of Supermagnetic Cobalt Ferrite Submicrometer Particles Fabricated Under γ–Irradiation

Abstract

Magnetic cobalt ferrite has wide spread applications, especially as catalyst for the conversion of alkenes to related aldehydes. Despite several studies found in the literature concerning the fabrication of cobalt ferrite, none has reported on gamma irradiation as a tool for the synthesis of submicrometer sized inverse spinel CoFe₂O₄. The actual investigation reports on the application of γ-irradiation method for the synthesis of superparamagnetic CoFe₂O₄, using metal salts precursors and organic reagents. The material fabrication occurs in two main steps as sofar described. The obtained powder was isolated after irradiation and was characterized using X-ray diffraction method, transmission electron microscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, UV-visible measurements and vibrating sample magnetometer. Furthermore, the X-ray diffraction data revealed the presence of a reverse spinel structure. The magnetic properties of the fabricated powder exhibited the measured lower coercivity and remanence, demonstrating that the spinel powders are made of superparamagnetic particles and finally, to gain information about the photocatalytic properties of the synthetized material, the room temperature recorded optical measurements for different samples proved that these powder materials may probably exhibit new opportunities which could improve their high photocatalytic efficiency under visible light. The prepared materials could be used as potetentiel candididates for the oxidation of organics compounds.