Structural, Optical and Electrical Properties of Cu0.6CoxZn0.4−xFe2O4 (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) Soft Ferrites
W.A. Farooq, Muhammad Sajjad Ul Hasan, M.I. Khan, Ahmad Raza Ashraf, Muhammad Abdul Qayyum, Nafeesah Yaqub, Mona A. Almutairi, M. Atif, Atif Hanif
Abstract
A series of cobalt-inserted copper zinc ferrites, Cu0.6CoxZn0.4−xFe2O4 (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) having cubic spinel structure were prepared by the coprecipitation method. Various characterization techniques, including XRD, FTIR, UV-vis and I–V were used to investigate structural optical and electrical properties, respectively. The lattice constant was observed to be decreased as smaller ionic radii Co2+ (0.74 Å) replaced the higher ionic radii Zn2+ (0.82 Å). The presence of tetrahedral and octahedral bands was confirmed by FTIR spectra. Optical bandgap energy was determined in the range of 4.44–2.05 eV for x = 0.0 to 0.4 nanoferrites, respectively. DC electrical resistivity was measured and showed an increasing trend (5.42 × 108 to 6.48 × 108 Ω·cm) with the addition of cobalt contents as cobalt is more conductive than zinc. The range of DC electrical resistivity (108 ohm-cm) makes these nanomaterials potential candidates for telecommunication devices.