Essence of superparamagnetism in cadmium ferrite induced by various organic fuels via novel solution combustion method

Abstract An attempt has been made to enumerate the myriads of successful applications of magnetic materials in nano-regime via low-temperature solution combustion synthesis of cadmium ferrite using different organic fuels such as urea, oxalyl dihydrazide (ODH), glycine and ethylene glycol giving rise to 1D nanorods and monodispersed spherical nanoparticles, thereby exploring their applicability in nanoelectronic devices such as high speed integrated circuits as well as in biomedical field as contrasting agents used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with enhanced magnetization. Thus, with appropriate selection of organic fuel and precursors (metal nitrates), single phase, cubic structured cadmium ferrites have been synthesized as depicted from FTIR spectroscopy and XRD patterns with particle size lying in 12–27 nm regime as rendered from TEM micrographs. Magnetic studies in the shadow of Mossbauer studies prelude to the emergence of superparamagnetism with non-saturation of M–H loop and negligibly small values of remanence as well as coercivity at room temperature, hence attributing to its single domain as well as soft magnetic character. Moreover, the room temperature dielectric measurements show dispersion behavior with increasing frequency corresponding to low dielectric losses, hence making them suitable for applications in high-frequency devices. Thus, solution combustion methodology was successfully used as a key step in the synthesis of CdFe 2 O 4 with highly superparamagnetic and soft character, thereby leading to products with different morphologies in nano-regime.