Preparation of cobalt ferrite micro/nanoparticles by solid-state thermal decomposition of a novel single-source precursor

چکیده مقاله

Abstract It seems that the use of coordination compounds as suitable precursors to synthesize ferrite micro/nanoparticles via solid-state methods has not been well developed. For this purpose, [Co(en)3][Fe(ox)3] complex (where en = ethylenediamine and ox = oxalate) as a novel precursor was used to prepare CoFe2O4 nanoparticles. Solid-state thermal decomposition of the synthesized precursor at different temperatures in the range of 400–800 C led to the formation of CoFe2O4 micro/nanoparticles with various particle sizes. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that pure CoFe2O4 and CoFe2O4/Co3O4 composite have been formed by thermal decomposition of the precursor at 700 and 800 C, respectively. In addition, it was concluded that by increasing the calcination temperature, particles sizes of the CoFe2O4 nanoparticles increased as expected. According to the optical properties of the products, it was found that CoFe2O4 micro/nanoparticles were semiconductors with electronic band gap of between 2.1 and 3.2 eV.