Highly dispersed spinel (Mg, Ca, Ba)-ferrite nanoparticles: Tuning the particle size and magnetic properties through a modified polyacrylamide gel route. Issue 16 (December 2016) - Wang, S.F.
Abstract: Highly dispersed ferrite magnetic nanoparticles (MFe2 O4, where M=Mg, Ca, Ba) were synthesized through a modified polyacrylamide gel route based on the use of carbon particles. By manipulating the sintering temperature and carbon concentration, the formation of (Mg, Ca, Ba)-ferrite phase can be suppressed to produce the intermediate phases of MCO3 (M=Mg, Ca, Ba) and Fe2 O3 . The novel MFe2 O4 magnetic nanoparticles exhibited high crystallinity and hysteresis loop squareness ratio. Furthermore, the MFe2 O4 magnetic nanoparticles exhibited improved surface morphology when compared with nano-MFe2 O4 of similar particle size synthesized by the polyacrylamide gel route reported in the literature. Morphology and magnetic properties of MFe2 O4 magnetic nanoparticles change also appears to be strongly dependent on the divalent metal M. These results bring up new ideas for the design of highly dispersed ferrite magnetic nanoparticles with tuned magnetic properties through a versatile polyacrylamide gel route.