Fabrication and study of CoF$_{2}$O$_{4}$ structures on Graphene substrates employing scanning probe microscopy techniques

Graphene materials are being investigated in recent years for verity of applications, including electric and optical devices and novel substrates. In this study we explore the route for assembling micro- and nanoscale architectures of magnetic complex oxide material directly on graphene surface using `direct write' parallel patterning techniques. Ferrimagnetic oxide CoFe$_{2}$O$_{4}$ (CFO) was prepared by sol-gel chemical route and used as `ink' for patterning structures. An array of CFO dots was fabricated using Dip Pen Nanolithography method at specific locations. Here we will discuss the surface properties of the formed dot structures of CoFe$_{2}$O$_{4}$ on graphene as compared to those formed on Si/SiO$_{2}$ substrate. Structures fabricated on each substrate with the same ambient conditions and thermal processing show different morphology and magnetic interactions when studied using AFM and MFM techniques. We will describe our findings and results acquired on individual CFO dots of different sizes. We will also show that graphene substrate is likely influencing the magnetic characteristics of CFO dots that are formed on its surface, although the role of graphene as a substrate for CFO dot formation should be further investigated.