Physica B 584 (2020) 412078 Available online 13 February 2020 0921-4526/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Study of structural, optical, electrical and magnetic properties of Cu 2þ doped Zn 0.4 Co 0.6-x Ce 0.1 Fe 1.9 O 4 spinel ferrites K. Hussain a , Aisha Bibi b , F. Jabeen c , Nasir Amin a , K. Mahmood a , Adnan Ali a , M. Zahir Iqbal d , M.I. Arshad a, * a Department of Physics, Government College University, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan b LNBA, JKLCBFMD, Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials and CICSNT, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China c Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research Unit, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, ON, Canada d Nanotechnology Research Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi, 23640, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Spinel ferrites Optical band gap DC resistivity Magnetic measurements ABSTRACT A series of copper (Cu 2þ ) doped Zn 0.4 Co 0.6-x Ce 0.1 Fe 1.9 O 4 (x ¼ 0.0, 0.15, 0.30, 0.45, 0.60) nanoparticles were synthesized via co-precipitation route in order to evaluate different properties like the structural, optical, elec- trical and magnetic through XRD, UV-VIS, SMU with two probes and VSM methods. The XRD patterns confrmed the formation of cubic spinel structure of the prepared samples. Replacement of Co 2þ ions with Cu 2þ ions have been confrmed by X-ray diffraction patterns. FTIR and UV–Vis also confrmed this replacement. The electrical parameters like DC resistivity, activation energy, and drift mobility have been evaluated to confrm the semi- conductor nature of the spinel ferrites. The Curie temperature declines on replacement of Cu 2þ ions with Co 2þ . The magnetic parameters like Bohr magnetic moment, anisotropy constant, initial permeability, Y–K angles, coercivity, and remanence ratio have been measured and determined. The saturation magnetization (Ms) and remanence (Mr) show remarkable decreasing trend with Cu 2þ ions concentration. 1. Introduction Spinel ferrite nanoparticles are represented by general formula AB 2 O 4 whereas letter A represents divalent like Ni 2þ, Cd 2þ , Co 2þ , Sn 2þ and Fe 2þ etc. and B exhibits trivalent like, Ce 3þ , La 3þ ,Ho 3þ and Fe 3þ etc. This particular class of ferrites also recognized as soft ferrites due to soft magnetic behavior [1]. There are 8 formula units of MeO.Fe 2 O 3 conse- quently presenting an arrangement of 56 atoms within one unit cell. The cubic structure of soft ferrites consists of 32 oxygen ions. These oxygen ions are occupied at A and B sub lattices [2]. The properties of ferrites are infuenced by the distribution of metal ions at the tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (B) sites, methods of synthesis, and particle size [3]. It has been reported that the porosity of the ferrites doped with rare earth ions show decreasing trend [4]. Doping of various metals such as chromium, copper, manganese, and zinc in ferrites are usually used to improve of their electric or magnetic properties [5–7]. Ferrites are insulators at room temperature while behave as semi- conductor at higher temperature. The variation in electrical properties makes them more suitable [8,9]. The electrical characteristics of ferrites depend on the compositional variation, position of metal cations on A or B sites and microstructures properties [10,11]. Anjana V et al. [12] evaluated the magnetic behavior of Cu 2þ substituted NiFe 2 O 4 nano- particles using co-precipitation route and revealed that saturation magnetization (Ms) has decreasing trend while coercivity (Hc) increased with copper content. X. C. Zhong et al. [13] explained the doping in- fuence of rare earth like Sm, Gd, Ce and Y doped Mn–Zn nanoparticles. K. Vijaya Babu et al. [14] evaluated the microstructural, electrical as well as magnetic features of Cu dopedNi-Co nanoparticles using sol-gel method and found the increasing trend in DC resistivity. Gopathi Ravi Kumar et al. [15] have been observed the magnetic behavior of Cu 2þ substituted Ni ferrites via sol-gel technique. The rare earth ions (RE ¼ Ce, Dy) in spinel ferrite, as a dopant element modify their electrical and structural behavior [16,17]. Hence, addition of Cu 2þ along with rare earth like Ce 3þ in ferrites have great importance to enhance the elec- trical properties to make them strong candidates for different applica- tions. Several routes and strategies were used for formation of spinel ferrites including mechanical milling, co-precipitation, hydrothermal, micro emulsion, and sol-gel method [18–23]. * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: miarshadgcuf@gmail.com, mimranarshad@gcuf.edu.pk (M.I. Arshad). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Physica B: Physics of Condensed Matter journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/physb https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physb.2020.412078 Received 13 December 2019; Accepted 9 February 2020