Microstructural and magneto-optical properties of Co_1-xNi_x Fe₂O₄ nanocomposites for hyperthermia applications

Magnetic hyperthermia-induced ferrite nanoparticles influenced by an external alternating magnetic field (AMF) are actively being pursued as a therapeutic tools for treating cancer tumor tissue. This work reports a combined experimental and computational study of pristine and Ni-doped cobalt ferrite. Specifically, cobalt ferrite (CoFe₂O₄) nanoparticles doped with nickel ions (Co_1-xNi_x Fe₂O₄) with 0≤x≤0.6 have been synthesized by in-situ sol-gel protocol to enhance the microstructural and magneto-optical properties. The formulated samples were evaluated using various characterization techniques. To further accentuate the properties of the synthesized samples, we used first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations to model the various cobalt ferrite compositions. The obtained results from DFT are in good pact with the structural, optical and the magnetic properties as observed in the experiment. Hence, our results demonstrate synthesis protocols and band-engineering routes to enhance the microstructural and magneto-optical properties of cobalt ferrite for magnetic hyperthermia applications.