Structural, Magnetic and Electrical Properties of Co-Doped Barium Monoferrite BaFe2O4

Abstract

Cobalt-substituted barium monoferrite with the formula BaCoxFe2-xO4 (x = 0.0-0.4, step 0.1) has been prepared through the sol-gel autocombustion method. Phase purity for prepared samples sintered at 700 and 1050 ̊ C was analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns that indicated the formation of the typical orthorhombic phase for the samples. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to investigate the effect of cobalt doping on the vibrational modes of the studied samples. Scherrer and Williamson-Hall formulae were used to define the microstrian and the crystallite size being in the range of 44.1 to 59.7 nm, which was further confirmed with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. Magnetic characteristics including magnetic saturation and coercivity were obtained from hysteresis loops traced using vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). Magnetic properties were correlated with the composition of the prepared samples. Finally, dielectric measurements were operated to further confirm the structural and magnetic analysis.