Z. Phys. Chem. 2019; aop Farzana Majid, Amarah Nazir, Sadia Ata*, Ismat Bibi*, Hafz Shahid Mehmood*, Abdul Malik, Adnan Ali and Munawar Iqbal Efect of Hydrothermal Reaction Time on Electrical, Structural and Magnetic Properties of Cobalt Ferrite https://doi.org/10.1515/zpch-2019-1423 Received March 22, 2019; accepted May 1, 2019 Abstract: Cobalt ferrite was synthesized by hydrothermal route in order to investi- gate the effect of hydrothermal reaction time on structural, magnetic and dielec- tric properties. The synthesized cobalt ferrite was characterized by X-ray diffrac- tion, Fourier transform infrared and Vibrating-Sample Magnetometer (VMS). XRD data analysis confirmed the formation of cubic inverse spinel ferrite for com- plete time series as the high intensity peak corresponds to cubic normal spinel structure. The ionic radii, cation distribution among tetrahedral and octahedral sites, lattice parameters, X-ray density, bond lengths were also investigated cobalt ferrite prepared at different hydrothermal reaction time. The crystallite size was found to be in the range of 11.79–32.78 nm. Tolerance factor was near unity that also confirms the formation of cubic ferrites. VSM studies revealed the mag- netic nature of cobalt ferrite. The coercivity (1076.3Oe) was observed for a sample treated for 11 h. The squareness ratio was 0.56 that is close to 0.5 which shows uni- axial anisotropy in cobalt ferrite. Frequency dependent dielectric properties i.e. dielectric constant, AC conductivity, tangent loss and AC resistivity are calculated with the help of Impedance Analyzer. Intrinsic cation vibration of cubic spinel fer- rites are confirmed from FTIR analysis in the range of 400–4000 cm -1 . In view of *Corresponding authors: Sadia Ata, Department of Chemistry, University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan, e-mail: sad_ziam@yahoo.com; Ismat Bibi, Department of Chemistry, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan, e-mail: drismat@iub.edu.pk; and Hafz Shahid Mehmood, Department of Electrical Engineering, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan, e-mail: engr.shahidmehmood16@gmail.com Farzana Majid and Amarah Nazir: Department of Physics, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan Abdul Malik: National Institute of Laser and Optronics (NILOP), Islamabad, Pakistan Adnan Ali: Department of Physics, Government College University Faisalabad, Lahore, Pakistan Munawar Iqbal: Department of Chemistry, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan Brought to you by | Boston University Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 6/3/19 8:59 AM