Exploring Structural Properties of Cobalt Ferrite Nanoparticles from Natural Sand

In the last years, CoFe₂O₄ (cobalt ferrite) nanoparticles become remarkable material due to their performance in various sophisticated applications. In this study, the cobalt ferrite both in powder and ferrofluid phases was successfully synthesized from natural sand. Investigation of the structural properties of the cobalt ferrite was performed using an X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and a small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) spectrometer to study the crystal structure in the powder and liquid states. The results of the SAXS data analysis using lognormal model revealed that the primary particle size of the cobalt ferrite in powder and ferrofluid had the similar size for the primary particle and fractal dimension, but varied in the secondary particle size. The data analysis using the Rietveld method from XRD data showed that the cobalt ferrite had an inverse spinel cubic structure, respectively. Such data was also confirmed by the data from Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy experiment. Moreover, the data analysis obtained from the ultra-violet visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy showed that the cobalt ferrite had a semiconductor characteristic with direct band gaps of about 2.27 eV.