Magnetic enhancement was observed in carbon-encapsulated
cobalt
ferrite (CoFe2O4) nanoparticles. The induced
magnetic moment of the nanoparticles was estimated using a vibrating-sample
magnetometer and corrected based on thermogravimetric loss. Notably,
up to 25% magnetic enhancement was achieved via carbon encapsulation
by low-temperature hydrothermal reactions. A systematic variation
on Co L-edge absorption spectra revealed the introduction of valence
holes owing to carbon encapsulation, and the hole injection was attributed
to carbon–sp contact. X-ray magnetic circular dichroism indicates
holes injected upon both Fe and Co ions. Specifically, it is observed
that the injection of polarized holes into Co2+ ions at
the octahedral site results in magnetic enhancement. A spin–split
electronic structure analysis of CoFe2O4 based
on density functional theory with Hubbard correction demonstrated
that octahedral Co, which served as a minority hole reservoir, controlled
the magnetic properties of the hybrid system.