Microstructural characterization of ellipsoidal iron metal nanoparticles

Ellipsoidal metal nanoparticles about 200 nm in length and with different axial ratios were obtained by reduction with hydrogen of an iron oxide. These metal particles were stabilized without the presence of an antisintering and protecting layer of aluminium or yttrium oxide, giving rise to a significant improvement of the magnetic properties. The precursors were uniform ellipsoidal haematite particles synthesized by forced hydrolysis of iron perchlorate in the presence of urea and phosphate ions. A detailed characterization of the nanoparticles was carried out to correlate the microstructure of the haematite precursors with the structural and magnetic properties of the final metal particles. It was observed that the single-crystal character of the particles is preserved during the transformation of iron oxide to metal. The resulting metal particles consist of a metal core of α-Fe and an oxide layer about 5 nm thick, with a spinel structure. The magnetic properties of this material showed very high saturation magnetization ( ) and coercivity values increasing from 1000 to 1200 Oe as the particle axial ratio increases. Measurements of the time dependence of the magnetization yielded activation volumes eight and five times smaller than the particle physical volumes, suggesting a mechanism of incoherent reversal of the magnetization.