Synthesis and characterization of Co2FeAl Heusler alloy nanoparticles

Heusler alloy Co2FeAl (CFA) nanoparticles have been synthesized by reducing a mixture of the precursors: CoCl2·6H2O, Fe(NO3)3·9H2O and AlCl3·6H2O under H2 atmosphere. XRD, SEM and TEM techniques have been used for the characterization of the prepared material. XRD and SAED data from TEM show the formation of mixed phases of L21, B2 and A2 type crystal structure of the alloy. The estimated particle size from XRD data and TEM micrograph has been found in the range of 10 nm to 50 nm. The saturation magnetization has been found of 115 emu/g from M-H characteristics which is close to its bulk value of saturation magnetization. Chemical composition of the elements has also been estimated from EDAX, which shows a ratio of Co:Fe:Al as 2.12:1.06:0.81.