Thermally synthesized MnO nanoparticles for magnetic properties and lithium batteries

MnO nanoparticles have drawn much attention due to their potential applications in spintronics and energy storage. In this work, we used a thermal decomposition method to synthesize MnO nanoparticles, and we controlled the reaction temperature and Mn(II):oleylamine:oleic acid ratios to obtain varied sizes ranging from 90 nm to 800 nm. The prepared MnO nanoparticles were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Magnetic measurements (M-H loops and M-T curves) were used to study the magnetic properties of the prepared MnO nanoparticles. The results showed that surface defects caused surface anisotropy that resulted in low temperature ferromagnetic behavior of the nanoparticles (90 nm–220 nm). The coercivity of 1500 Oe were obtained. The synthesized MnO nanoparticles were also studied as anode materials in lithium ion batteries, and achieved very promising results.