One-step citrate gel combustion method followed by annealing (800 degrees C/2 h) was employed to synthesize cobalt substituted barium strontium hexaferrite with a chemical composition of Ba0.5Sr0.5Fe12-xCoxO19 (x=0, 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9). A combination of thermo-gravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry was employed to understand the thermo-chemical behavior of Ba0.5Sr0.5Fe12O19. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to evaluate the hexagonal phase evolution for the barium strontium ferrite nanopowders and a formation of secondary phase: alpha-Fe2O3 is evident for the Ba0.5Sr0.5Fe12O19. Raman spectroscopy confirmed the presence of different sublattices of Fe3+ present in the hexaferrite structure. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy demonstrated the usual stretching vibrations of tetrahedral and octahedral M-O bands. The morphology and chemical composition of the samples were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy attached with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, respectively. Selected area electron diffraction studies showed the nanocrystalline nature of the samples. The magnetic parameters such as saturation magnetization M-s, coercivity, H-c and remanent magnetization, M-R were estimated from the hysteresis loops. Maximum value of M-s (70.5 emu/g) was obtained for the Ba0.5Sr0.5Fe11.5Co0.5O19 nanoparticles. A possible growth mechanism on the crystallization of Ba0.5Sr0.5Fe11.5Co0.5O19 hexagonal platelets during the citrate gel combustion synthesis is highlighted. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.