ARTICLE IN PRESS
K. Simeonidis et al. / Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 320 (2008) 1631–1638
1637
Keff ¼ 25kBTb/V [26], where kB is Boltzmann’s constant
4. Conclusion
and V the mean particle volume excluding the Pt-rich
core. The Keff value (1.6 ꢁ 105 erg cmꢀ3) is slightly higher
than the corresponding value of bulk magnetite
(1.3 ꢁ 105 erg cmꢀ3), possibly due to shape anisotropy
arising from the polygonal shape of nanoparticles.
The preparation of Fe3O4 nanoparticles as large as
14 nm, applying a two-stage heterogeneous growth on Pt
seeds, was achieved by increasing the duration of heating at
high temperatures. The low percentage of Pt in the sample
does not affect the macroscopically observed properties,
whereas it participates in the growth mechanism. During
the first stage Pt seeds operate as nucleation centers for iron
growth. The result of diffusion that takes place at the
boiling point is the formation of a Pt-rich Fe–Pt alloy core
inside each nanoparticle.
Although this process leads to a less monodispersed
product, the enlargement of nanoparticles is accompanied
by a fine isolation originating from the surfactant mono-
layer, which completely surrounds each one of them. The
good agreement in the calculation of the mean nanoparticle
diameter by TEM, XRD and magnetic measurements
proves their high crystallinity and the absence of magnetic
interactions between them.
After reaching the maximum magnetization value, ZFC
curve follows a decreasing path till room temperature,
indicating a Curie’s law behavior [10]. This steady
reduction implies physical isolation between the nanopar-
ticles due to the oleic acid coating on their surface
and consequently their fine dispersion [27]. In the case of
field cooling, the curve gets its maximum value at 5 K and
then linearly decreases with rising temperature, coinciding
with ZFC curve over 140 K. After this point, all
nanoparticles display superparamagnetic relaxation. The
divergence of ZFC and FC curves below separation
temperature is attributed to the existence of a magnetic
anisotropy energy barrier that prevents magnetization
reversal [28].
The magnetic hysteresis loops of the same sample were
recorded for the temperatures of 10 and 300 K (Fig. 10). In
principle, the characteristics of each loop verify the
discussion on ZFC–FC measurements. The sample shows
its ferrimagnetism at 10 K, which is fairly below the
blocking temperature, having a coercivity value of 217 Oe
and about 15 emu/g of remanence. On the other hand,
nanoparticles are typically superparamagnetic at room
temperature, as the zero coercivity and the absence of
saturation indicate. The saturation magnetization at 300 K
reaches 59 emu/g, which is very close to iron oxide samples
of similar size [14], but only 65% of bulk magnetite
(90 emu/g). The reason for this declination is the appear-
ance of spin canting effects due to crystal size decreasing
and the existence of the surfactant at nanoparticle surface
[29]. However, the improved crystallinity of nanoparticles
restrains this tendency and maintains saturation magneti-
zation at high values. The value at 10 K is higher (67 emu/
g) as the effect of thermal fluctuations is reduced under the
superparamagnetic limit.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the Greek Secretariat of
Research and Technology—Contract no. 03ED667.
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ꢀ
ꢁ
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1=3
18 kBT
pMs
wi
3msH0
DM
¼
,
(1)
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