Simplified synthesis of single-crystalline magnetic CoFe2O4 nanorods by a surfactant-assisted hydrothermal process

A simple hydrothermal route, using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the surfactant, has been proposed for synthesizing single-crystalline spinal cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) nanorods. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images indicated that the final product consists of nanorods with a diameter of about 25nm and length up to about 120nm.Furthermore, high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) revealed a clear lattice structure of the [100] planes in the nanorods. The magnetic properties of the CoFe2O4 nanorods were characterized using vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The possible formation mechanism for the CTAB-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of CoFe2O4 nanorods has been discussed.