Magnetization anomalies of nanosize zinc ferrite particles prepared using electrodeposition

Nanosize zinc ferrite particles have been prepared for the first time using electrodeposition. Zinc and iron are deposited on the cathode from a common bath containing the salts of zinc and iron. The deposited materials were forced to undergo electrochemical oxidation in a strong alkaline solution (1 M KOH) to convert them into oxides. Crystallization in ZnFe₂O₄ structure was obtained by heating the deposited material at appropriate temperature. X-ray diffraction pattern confirmed that the procedure leads to the formation of pure phase of ZnFe₂O₄. The magnetization value for the smallest size ZnFe₂O₄ is much smaller than that for the ZnFe₂O₄ made by most of the other methods although it shows a nice hysteresis shape. The magnetization shows very little variation with size in the range studied.