Search for ferromagnetism in Hf2Co7: An investigation by perturbed angular correlation (PAC) spectroscopy

•Intermetallic alloy Hf2Co7 is studied by perturbed angular correlation to observe magnetism.•No ferromagnetism is found in the temperature range 77–973 K.•Room temperature ferromagnetism was reported from previous PAC studies.•An almost pure phase of Hf2Co7 is found from present XRD measurement.•A phase controversy for Hf2Co7 was reported from previous studies.