Mesoporous Cobalt Ferrite Nanosystems Obtained by Surfactant-Assisted Hydrothermal Method: Tuning Morpho-structural and Magnetic Properties via pH-Variation.

A facile and cheap surfactant-assisted hydrothermal method was used to prepare mesoporous cobalt ferrite nanosystems with BET surface area up to 151 m/g. These mesostructures with high BET surface areas and pore sizes are made from assemblies of nanoparticles (NPs) with average sizes between 7.8 and 9.6 nm depending on the initial pH conditions. The pH proved to be the key factor for controlling not only NP size, but also the phase purity and the porosity properties of the mesostructures. At pH values lower than 7, a parasite hematite phase begins to form. The sample obtained at pH = 7.3 has magnetization at saturation M = 38 emu/g at 300 K (54.3 emu/g at 10 K) and BET surface area S = 151 m/g, whereas the one obtained at pH = 8.3 has M = 68 emu/g at 300 K (83.6 emu/g at 10 K) and S = 101 m/g. The magnetic coercive field values at 10 K are high at up to 12,780 Oe, with a maximum coercive field reached for the sample obtained at pH = 8.3. Decreased magnetic performances are obtained at pH values higher than 9. The iron occupancies of the tetrahedral and octahedral sites belonging to the cobalt ferrite spinel structure were extracted through decomposition of the Mössbauer patterns in spectral components. The magnetic anisotropy constants of the investigated NPs were estimated from the temperature dependence of the hyperfine magnetic field. Taking into consideration the high values of BET surface area and the magnetic anisotropy constants as well as the significant magnetizations for saturation at ambient temperature, and the fact that all parameters can be adjusted through the initial pH conditions, these materials are very promising as recyclable anti-polluting agents, magnetically separable catalysts, and targeted drug delivery vehicles.