Herein, we report the synthesis of nanoparticles and doping of Cu-doped Co–Zn ferrites using the auto-combustion sol–gel synthesis technique. X-ray diffraction studies confirmed the single-phase structure of the samples with space group Fd3m and crystallite size in the range of 20.57–32.69 nm. Transmission electron microscopy micrographs and selected area electron diffraction patterns confirmed the polycrystalline nature of the ferrite nanoparticles. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed the elemental composition in the absence of any impurity phases. Fourier-transform infrared studies showed the presence of two prominent peaks at approximately 420 cm⁻¹ and 580 cm⁻¹, showing metal–oxygen stretching and the formation of ferrite composite. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was employed to determine the oxidation states of Fe, Co, Zn, and Cu and O vacancies based on which cationic distributions at tetrahedral and octahedral sites are proposed. Dielectric spectroscopy showed that the samples exhibit Maxwell–Wagner interfacial polarization, which decreases as the frequency of the applied field increases. The dielectric loss of the samples was less than 1, confirming that the samples can be used for the fabrication of multilayer inductor chips. The ac conductivity of the samples increased with increasing doping and with frequency, and this has been explained by the hopping model. The hysteresis loops revealed that coercivity decreases slightly with doping, while the highest saturation magnetization of 55.61 emu/g was obtained when x = 0.1. The magnetic anisotropic constant was found to be less than 0.5, which suggests that the samples exhibit uniaxial anisotropy rather than cubic anisotropy. The squareness ratio indicates that the samples are useful in high-frequency applications.

Al³⁺-Co²⁺ co-substituted M-type SrCaNd hexaferrites with cation compositions Sr_0.5Ca_0.2Nd_0.3Fe_12.0-x(Al_0.5Co_0.5)_xO₁₉ were synthesized using the traditional ceramic process by varying AlCo content (x) (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5). The microstructures, morphologies and ferromagnetic properties of the samples were investigated as a function of AlCo content (x) by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transformer infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and Hysteresis graph meter. The X-ray diffraction patterns show that the hexaferrites with AlCo content (x) of 0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.2) exhibited M-type phase and α-Fe₂O₃ as impurity phase, while the hexaferrites with AlCo content (x) ≥ 0.3 exhibited the single M-type phase. XRD, along with FT-IR analysis confirmed the formation of M-type hexaferrites and the successful substitution of Al³⁺ and Co²⁺ ions in the hexaferrite lattice. The results of FE-SEM images proposed that all the particles with regular hexagonal platelet-like shape were homogeneous dispersed. The remanence (B_r) first increased with AlCo content (x) from 0.0 to 0.3, and then decreased when AlCo content (x) ≥ 0.3. The intrinsic coercivity (H_cj) and magnetic induction coercivity (H_cb) first increased with AlCo content (x) from 0.0 to 0.2, and then decreased with AlCo content (x) from 0.2 to 0.3, and increased when AlCo content (x) ≥ 0.3. Maximum energy product [(BH)_max] first increased with AlCo content (x) from 0.0 to 0.2, and then decreased at AlCo content (x) ≥ 0.2. Squareness ratio (H_k/H_cj) decreased with increasing AlCo content (x) from 0.0 to 0.5.