One pot facile hydrothermal synthesis of superparamagnetic ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles and their properties

Superparamagnetic ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles were synthesized by facile hydrothermal method using different amount of diethylamine (DEA) as a precipitating agent. The phase formation, morphological and magnetic properties were investigated using X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer. The amount of DEA required for forming single phase ZnFe2O4 was optimized. For 2 ml of DEA, a mixed phase of alpha-Fe2O3 and ZnFe2O4 was formed whereas single phase of ZnFe2O4 was formed with high crystalline quality for 4, 6, 8 and 10 ml of DEA. FE-SEM results indicated that all the synthesized products were in spherical shape with small aggregations. Particle size of 9 nm was obtained from TEM image for sample synthesized using 10 ml of DEA. Superparamagnetic property was observed for the samples synthesized using 4, 6, 8, and 10 ml of DEA.