Hydrothermal synthesis of barium copper ferrite nanoparticles: Nanofiber formation, optical, and magnetic properties

Abstract

Abstract The BaxCu1-xFe2O4 (x\u202f=\u202f0.2–0.8) (BCF) nanoparticles were prepared via low temperature hydrothermal technique. The X-ray diffraction patterns showed an evidence for cubic spinel formation of BCF system. The average crystallite size (D) was observed to be increasing from ~20 to 24\u202fnm. Further, the surface morphology was examined using field emission scanning (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The FESEM results attributed the evolution of nanofibers with increase of x. At x\u202f=\u202f0.8, the complete generation of nanofibers was noticed and hence, these samples can be expected for biomedical applications. The TEM pictures also revealed a supportive evidence for the generation of nanofibers. The particle size was altering from ~6 to 75\u202fnm. The optical properties of BCF were studied using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and UV–Visible spectra. The small values of remanence magnetization (Mr), and coercivity (Hc) were obtained for x\u202f=\u202f0.4–0.8 using magnetization versus magnetic field (M\u202f−\u202fH) curves. This indicated the superparamagnetic behavior of BCF. In addition, the probable distribution of cations at two sublattices was carried out using two-sublattice model. The ferroelectric hysteresis loops established the banana shape for x\u202f=\u202f0.2 to 0.8.