Phase transition in nanomagnetite

Recently, the application of nanosized magnetite particles became an area of growing interest for their potential practical applications. Nanosized magnetite samples of 36 and 9nm sizes were synthesized. Special care was taken on the right stoichiometry of the magnetite particles. Mössbauer spectroscopy measurements were made in 4.2–300K temperature range. The temperature dependence of the intensities of the spectral components indicated size dependent transition taking place in a broad temperature range. For nanosized samples, the hyperfine interaction values and their relative intensities changed above the Verwey transition temperature value of bulk megnetite. The continuous transition indicated the formation of dendritelike granular assemblies formed during the preparation of the samples.