Abstract
Nanocrystals of La doped CoFe2O4 were synthesized using three different techniques: flash auto combustion, citrate-nitrate and the standard ceramic technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the obtained nanocrystals. All samples were crystallized in a spinel structure with cubic symmetry. The decrease in the lattice constant was endorsed to the large difference in ionic radii of both La+3 (1.216 angstrom) and Fe (0.65 degrees) in 6-f coordination. The citrate method displayed superior M-s values amongst all techniques. The coercivity was found to exhibit largest values for the citrate method and then the flash while smallest values are associated with ceramic technique. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.