Determination of transition metal ion distribution in cubic spinel Co1.5Fe1.5O4 using anomalous x-ray diffraction

We report anomalous x-ray diffraction studies on Co ferrite with composition Co1.5Fe1.5O4 to obtain the distribution of transition metal ions in tetrahedral and octahedral sites. We synthesize spinel oxide (Co1.5Fe1.5O4) through co-precipitation and subsequent annealing route. The imaginary part (absorption) of the energy dependent anomalous form factor is measured and the real part is calculated theoretically through Kramers–Krönig transformation to analyze anomalous x-ray diffraction peak intensities. Fe and Co K-edge x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectra are used to estimate charge states of transition metals. Our analysis, within experimental errors, suggests 44% of the tetrahedral sites contain Co in +2 oxidation state and the rest 56% sites contain Fe in +2 and +3 oxidation states. Similarly, 47% of the octahedral sites contain Fe in +3 oxidation states, whereas, the rest of the sites contain Co in +2 and +3 oxidation states. While a distinct pre-edge feature in the Fe K-edge XANES is observed, Co pre-edge remains featureless. Implications of these results to magnetism are briefly discussed.