Polyol Process Synthesis of Monodispersed FePt Nanoparticles

Monodispersed FePt nanoparticles are synthesized by reduction of iron(II) acetylacetonate and platinum(II) acetylacetonate with 1,2-hexadecanediol as the reducing reagent in the polyol process. As-prepared FePt nanoparticles are chemically disordered with fcc phase. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images show a self-assembled particle array with an average particle size of 3 nm and a standard deviation about 10%. The transformation from chemically disordered fcc to chemically ordered L10 phase is achieved by annealing at 650 degrees C for 30 min in Ar atmosphere where the oxygen level is less than 1 ppm. Magnetic hysteresis measurements show a coercivity of 9.0 kOe at 293K, and 16.7 kOe at 5 K for the annealed FePt nanoparticles.