Effect of Surfactants on the Structural and Magnetic Properties of NiFe2O4 Nanoparticles

In present work, nickel ferrite magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized by simple precipitation method using different surfactants and the effect of surfactants on its structural and magnetic properties have been studied. Average crystallite size calculated from Scherrer formula is in the range of 20-51 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectra confirmed the tetrahedral and octahedral vibrational bands at 400 and 650 cm-1, respectively. The UV-visible absorbance spectra confirmed that the direct bandgap of nickel ferrite between 3.48 and 3 eV for different surfactants. Transmission electron microscope analysis validated the establishment of single-phase nickel ferrite nanoparticles in the range of ~19-51 nm. Saturation magnetization varies with surfactants between 28.6 and 50.3 emu/g, 76 to 95 Oe and 2.19 to 6.07 emu/g, respectively. The superparamagnetic nature of the samples is supported by the low coercivity (< 100 Oe).