Hindawi Publishing Corporation Advances in Materials Science and Engineering Volume 2013, Article ID 713684, 5 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/713684 Research Article Effect of Cation Distribution on Structural and Magnetic Properties of Nickel Cobalt Zinc Ferrites S. J. Azhagushanmugam, 1 N. Suriyanarayanan, 2 and R. Jayaprakash 3 1 Department of Physics, Muthayammal Engineering College, Rasipuram, Tamil Nadu 637 408, India 2 Department of Physics, Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641 013, India 3 Department of Physics, SRMV College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641 020, India Correspondence should be addressed to S. J. Azhagushanmugam; azhagushanmugam@yahoo.co.in Received 1 June 2013; Accepted 8 September 2013 Academic Editor: Yong Ding Copyright © 2013 S. J. Azhagushanmugam et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Nanoparticles of Ni (0.8−x) Co (0.2) Zn (x) Fe 2 O 4 ( = 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6) are prepared by chemical coprecipitation method. Efects of zinc substitution on structural and magnetic properties have been investigated. Te X-ray difraction and infrared spectroscopy are used to characterize the samples. Te XRD pattern of the samples provides evidence of single phase formation of spinel structure with cubic symmetry. It is observed that the particle size decreases and lattice parameter increases with the increase in zinc concentration. TEM micrographs show a well-defned nanocrystalline state with an average particle size of around ≈17 nm. Te B-H loops of all samples that are obtained by using vibrating sample magnetometer are displayed. Te efect of Zn addition on saturation magnetization and the coercivity of all the samples are discussed. 1. Introduction Co-Zn ferrites are used for magnetic applications such as transformer core, noise flters, and recording heads because of their excellent magnetic properties such as high initial per- meability and high saturation magnetization. However these ferrites have certain limitation for magnetic applications at higher frequencies. Although Ni-Zn ferrites have a wide spread role in many technological applications due to their low eddy currents and dielectric losses, inferior magnetic properties at higher frequencies limit their use. Properties of these ferrites (Co-Zn and Ni-Zn) have been investigated extensively [1, 2]; however, a very few reports are available on the combination of these two [3]. In a previous work, the authors have reported [3] the efects of zinc substitution on structural and magnetic properties of Ni-Zn-Co ferrite. In this work, an attempt has been made to understand the efect of Zn substitution on structural and magnetic properties of Ni (0.8−x) Co (0.2) Zn (x) Fe 2 O 4 (NCZF) (where  = 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6). Nano size ferrites can be prepared by various meth- ods including glass ceramic method, hydrothermal method, ultrasonic cavitation approach, mechanical milling, sol-gel method, and coprecipitation method. In the present work, nanoparticles of NCZF are prepared by the coprecipitation method, which had been previously reported as a good method for controlling the stoichiometric compositions and reducing the pollutions since no organic substances are involved during the preparation [4]. 2. Experimental 2.1. Synthesis. Nanoparticles of NCZF were prepared by chemical coprecipitation route. In order to obtain the desired compositions, stoichiometric amounts of NiCl 2 ⋅6H 2 O, CoCl 2 ⋅6H 2 O, ZnCl 2 ⋅6H 2 O, and FeCl 3 ⋅6H 2 O were dissolved in ultrapure water. Te neutralization was carried out with sodium hydroxide solution. Te reaction temperature was kept at 60 ∘ C for 15min. Te pH of the reaction was kept at 12. Te precipitates were thoroughly washed with distilled water until they were free from sodium and chloride ions. Te product was dried in an electric oven at a temperature of 100 ∘ C to remove water contents. Te dried powder was grained well in a cleaned agate mortar and pestle. By using high temperature mufe furnace, the grained powders were sintered at 600 ∘ C for 2 hrs, then the furnace was switched