The Effect of Low-Temperature Annealing on the Structural and the Magnetic Characteristics of Co-Precipitated Strontium Cobalt Ferrite

This study aims to prepare strontium-substituted cobalt ferrite (Sr0.1Co0.9Fe2O4) nanoparticles by using a simple co-precipitation process followed by annealing at 300°C–600°C for 5 h. The Sr0.1Co0.9Fe2O4 nanoparticles thus obtained have a face-centred cubic (fcc) inverse-spinel crystalline structure with crystallite sizes in the range from 17.26 to 26.97 nm. The saturated magnetization of the nanoparticles increases with increasing annealing temperature. Furthermore, the transition from a multi-domain to a single-domain configuration is investigated from the viewpoint of the dependence of the crystallity on the coercive field.