Discipline: Nanoscience or Materials Science
Subcategory: Nanoscience
Session: 4
Room: Forum
Charielice M. Bonilla-Pérez - University of Puerto Rico in Ponce
Co-Author(s): Yarilyn Cedeño-Mattei, University of Puerto Rico in Ponce
Cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) is a nanomaterial that possesses excellent chemical stability and good mechanical hardness. It has been explored due to potential applications in a wide range of fascinating topics (i.e. biomedical, technological, environmental, among others). It can be synthesized through different methods such as co-precipitation, sol-gel, and hydrothermal. Cobalt ferrite properties can differ according to the crystal size, ferrite composition, and cations distribution at the nanoscale. It is expected that substituting Co2+ ions with transition metals will have an effect on its magnetic properties due to the amount of magnetic moments that they possess. Taking it into account, NixCo1-xFe2 O4 nanocrystals were synthesized. The ferrites were prepared by the coprecipitation method which is considered an eco-friendly method.The Ni2+ (0.78 Å) has an ionic radius smaller than Co2+ (0.82 Å); thus, it is expected an effect on structural properties too. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) was used to determine the crystal size and lattice parameter, in addition to examine the nanocrystals crystallinity. Vibrating Sample Magnetometry (VSM) was used to measure the coercivity, saturation magnetization, and squareness ratio of the produced ferrites. The results show that the incorporation of Ni ions systematically increased the average crystallite size from 7 nm to 17 nm. A decrease in lattice parameter was observed as the Ni atomic fraction increased. It is attributed to the smaller ionic radius of Ni respect to Co. The Vibrating Sample Magnetometry results show a noticeable difference in coercivity and saturation magnetization as the transition metal atomic fraction was varied. Coercivity values are between 14 and 2583 Oe and the saturation magnetization ranged between 10-65emu/g.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): Puerto Rico Louis Stokes Alliance For Minority Participation
Faculty Advisor: Yarilyn Cedeño-Mattei, yarilyn.cedeno@upr.edu
Role: The part of the research I did was the synthesis and characterization of the nanocrystals. NixCo1-Fe2O4 was synthesized, for this synthesis method used was the coprecipitation where the duration of this was 1 hour. This synthesis was carried out under the conditions of 500 ° C and 1000 rpm. To characterize these nanocrystals and analyze their structural properties, X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used. And vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM).