Structural, morphological and magnetic properties of Sn doped CoFe2O4 nanoparticles

•XRD analysis of CoFe2−xSnxO4 confirmed the presence of cubic spinel structure.•The crystallite size measured from XRD data are well agreed with the particles size measured from TEM images.•EDX analysis suggests the successful substitution of Sn in the CoFe2−xSnxO4.•The magnetic measurement shows the soft ferromagnetic nature of CoFe2−xSnxO4 NPs.•The change of coercivity with Sn substitution of has a direct relationship with crystallite size. In this report, sol–gel synthesized CoFe2−xSnxO4 (x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20) nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared from metal chloride precursors. To identify the ferrite phase formation TGA/TDA analysis was performed. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirms the formation of face centered cubic spinel structure of the CoFe2O4 NPs. Octahedral shaped crystalline ferrite nanoparticles are confirmed from Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) study. The crystallite size estimated from XRD data is well agreed with particles size measured from transmission electron microscope (TEM) image. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy result shows the octahedral and tetrahedral stretching vibrational bonds, respectively. EDX analysis suggests the successful substitution of Sn in the CoFe2−xSnxO4. The room temperature and at 50 K magnetization measurement shows the ferromagnetic behavior. The maximum coercivity (Hc) and saturation magnetization (Ms) was found to be 1081 Oe and 54 emu g−1 for x = 0.00, 0.20 sample. The variation of saturation magnetization with Sn doping has been discussed through Co2+ and Fe3+ cation distribution of spinel CoFe2O4. The law of approach method is used to calculate the values of anisotropy constant (K). The values of K for different Sn doping are found to be 3.051, 2.740, 2.623, 2.944 and 3.239 × 105 ergs/cm3, respectively. The change of coercivity (1081–636 Oe) with Sn substitution of has a direct relationship with crystallite size as well domain wall movement of ferromagnetism.