Exchange-Coupled Bimagnetic Cobalt/Iron Oxide Branched Nanocrystal Heterostructures (original) (raw)

Colloidal Magnetic Heterostructured Nanocrystals with Asymmetric Topologies: Seeded-Growth Synthetic Routes and Formation Mechanisms

Frontiers in Materials, 2016

Colloidal inorganic nanocrystals (NCs), free-standing crystalline nanostructures generated and processed in solution phase, represent an important class of advanced nanoscale materials owing to the flexibility with which their physical-chemical properties can be controlled through synthetic tailoring of their compositional, structural, and geometric features and the versatility with which they can be integrated in technological fields as diverse as optoelectronics, energy storage/conversion/production, catalysis, and biomedicine. In recent years, building upon mechanistic knowledge acquired on the thermodynamic and kinetic processes that underlie NC evolution in liquid media, synthetic nanochemistry research has made impressive advances, opening new possibilities for the design, creation, and mastering of increasingly complex "colloidal molecules," in which NC modules of different materials are clustered together via solid-state bonding interfaces into free-standing, easily processable multifunctional nanocomposite systems. This review will provide a glimpse into this fast-growing research field by illustrating progress achieved in the wet-chemical development of last-generation breeds of allinorganic heterostructured nanocrystals (HNCs) in asymmetric non-onionlike geometries, inorganic analogues of polyfunctional organic molecules, in which distinct nanoscale crystalline modules are interconnected in heterodimer, hetero-oligomer, and anisotropic multidomain architectures via epitaxial heterointerfaces of limited extension. The focus will be on modular HNCs entailing at least one magnetic material component combined with semiconductors and/or metals, which hold potential for generating enhanced or unconventional magnetic behavior, while offering diversified or even new chemical-physical properties and functional capabilities. The available toolkit of synthetic strategies, all based on the manipulation of seeded-growth techniques, will be described, revisited, and critically interpreted within the framework of the currently understood mechanisms of colloidal heteroepitaxy.

Tuning the Magnetic Properties of Metal Oxide Nanocrystal Heterostructures by Cation Exchange

Nano Letters, 2013

For three types of colloidal magnetic nanocrystals, we demonstrate that postsynthetic cation exchange enables tuning of the nanocrystal's magnetic properties and achieving characteristics not obtainable by conventional synthetic routes. While the cation exchange procedure, performed in solution phase approach, was restricted so far to chalcogenide based semiconductor nanocrystals, here ferrite-based nanocrystals were subjected to a Fe 2+ to Co 2+ cation exchange procedure. This allows tracing of the compositional modifications by systematic and detailed magnetic characterization. In homogeneous magnetite nanocrystals and in gold/magnetite core shell nanocrystals the cation exchange increases the coercivity field, the remanence magnetization, as well as the superparamagnetic blocking temperature. For core/shell nanoheterostructures a selective doping of either the shell or predominantly of the core with Co 2+ is demonstrated. By applying the cation exchange to FeO/CoFe 2 O 4 core/shell nanocrystals the Neeĺ temperature of the core material is increased and exchange-bias effects are enhanced so that vertical shifts of the hysteresis loops are obtained which are superior to those in any other system.

One-Pot Synthesis and Characterization of Size-Controlled Bimagnetic FePt−Iron Oxide Heterodimer Nanocrystals

Journal of The American Chemical Society, 2008

A one-pot, two-step colloidal strategy to prepare bimagnetic hybrid nanocrystals (HNCs), comprising size-tuned fcc FePt and inverse spinel cubic iron oxide domains epitaxially arranged in a heterodimer configuration, is described. The HNCs have been synthesized in a unique surfactant environment by temperature-driven sequential reactions, involving the homogeneous nucleation of FePt seeds and the subsequent heterogeneous growth of iron oxide. This self-regulated mechanism offers high versatility in the control of the geometric features of the resulting heterostructures, circumventing the use of more elaborate seeded growth techniques. It has been found that, as a consequence of the exchange coupling between the two materials, the HNCs exhibit tunable single-phase-like magnetic behavior, distinct from that of their individual components. In addition, the potential of the heterodimers as effective contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging techniques has been examined.

Synthesis of Highly Crystalline and Monodisperse Cobalt Ferrite Nanocrystals

Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2002

Highly crystalline and monodisperse cobalt ferrite nanocrystals were fabricated by the high-temperature aging of a metal-surfactant complex followed by mild oxidation. Particle sizes were varied from 4 to 9 nm by changing the experimental conditions. Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) images of the particles showed two-and three-dimensional assembly of the particles, demonstrating the uniformity of the nanocrystals. Electron diffraction, X-ray diffraction, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopic images of the nanocrystals confirmed the highly crystalline nature of the cobalt ferrite structure. The elemental analysis confirmed the stoichiometry of cobalt ferrite, despite some variations in the relative atomic composition of nanocrystals. The nanocrystals were found to have typical behaviors of magnetic nanocrystals and the narrow energy barrier distributions of magnetic anisotropy, implying that the nanocrystals obtained are very uniform.

Monodisperse Cobalt Ferrite Nanomagnets with Uniform Silica Coatings

Langmuir, 2010

Ferro-and ferrimagnetic nanoparticles are difficult to manipulate in solution as a consequence of the formation of magnetically induced nanoparticle aggregates, which hamper the utility of these particles for applications ranging from data storage to bionanotechnology. Nonmagnetic shells that encapsulate these magnetic particles can reduce the interparticle magnetic interactions and improve the dispersibility of the nanoparticles in solution. A route to create uniform silica shells around individual cobalt ferrite nanoparticles;which uses poly(acrylic acid) to bind to the nanoparticle surface and inhibit nanoparticle aggregation prior to the addition of a silica precursor;was developed. In the absence of the poly(acrylic acid) the cobalt ferrite nanoparticles irreversibly aggregated during the silica shell formation. The thickness of the silica shell around the core-shell nanoparticles could be controlled in order to tune the interparticle magnetic coupling as well as inhibit magnetically induced nanoparticle aggregation. These ferrimagnetic core-silica shell structures form stable dispersion in polar solvents such as EtOH and water, which is critical for enabling technologies that require the assembly or derivatization of ferrimagnetic particles in solution.

Chemical Solution Deposition of Ordered 2D Arrays of Room-Temperature Ferrimagnetic Cobalt Ferrite Nanodots

Polymers

Over the past decades, the development of nano-scale electronic devices and high-density memory storage media has raised the demand for low-cost fabrication methods of two-dimensional (2D) arrays of magnetic nanostructures. Here, we present a chemical solution deposition methodology to produce 2D arrays of cobalt ferrite (CFO) nanodots on Si substrates. Using thin films of four different self-assembled block copolymers as templates, ordered arrays of nanodots with four different characteristic dimensions were fabricated. The dot sizes and their long-range arrangement were studied with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and grazing incident small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). The structural evolution during UV/ozone treatment and the following thermal annealing was investigated through monitoring the atomic arrangement with X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (EXAFS) and checking the morphology at each preparation step. The preparation method presented here obtains array ...

Mesoporous Cobalt Ferrite Nanosystems Obtained by Surfactant-Assisted Hydrothermal Method: Tuning Morpho-structural and Magnetic Properties via pH-Variation

Nanomaterials

A facile and cheap surfactant-assisted hydrothermal method was used to prepare mesoporous cobalt ferrite nanosystems with BET surface area up to 151 m2/g. These mesostructures with high BET surface areas and pore sizes are made from assemblies of nanoparticles (NPs) with average sizes between 7.8 and 9.6 nm depending on the initial pH conditions. The pH proved to be the key factor for controlling not only NP size, but also the phase purity and the porosity properties of the mesostructures. At pH values lower than 7, a parasite hematite phase begins to form. The sample obtained at pH = 7.3 has magnetization at saturation Ms = 38 emu/g at 300 K (54.3 emu/g at 10 K) and BET surface area SBET = 151 m2/g, whereas the one obtained at pH = 8.3 has Ms = 68 emu/g at 300 K (83.6 emu/g at 10 K) and SBET = 101 m2/g. The magnetic coercive field values at 10 K are high at up to 12,780 Oe, with a maximum coercive field reached for the sample obtained at pH = 8.3. Decreased magnetic performances ar...

Size Control and Magnetic Property Trends in Cobalt Ferrite Nanoparticles Synthesized Using an Aqueous Chemical Route

IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 2000

Cobalt ferrite (CoFe 2 O 4) is an engineering material which is used for applications such as magnetic cores, magnetic switches, hyperthermia based tumor treatment, and as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging. Utility of ferrites nanoparticles hinges on its size, dispersibility in solutions, and synthetic control over its coercivity. In this work, we establish correlations between room temperature co-precipitation conditions, and these crucial materials parameters. Furthermore post-synthesis annealing conditions are correlated with morphology, changes in crystal structure and magnetic properties. We disclose the synthesis and process conditions helpful in obtaining easily sinterable CoFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles with coercive magnetic flux density (H c) in the range 5.5-31.9 kA/m and M s in the range 47.9-84.9 A.m 2 Kg-1. At a grain size of ~54±2 nm (corresponding to 1073 K sintering temperature), multi-domain behavior sets in, which is indicated by a decrease in H c. In addition, we observe an increase in lattice constant with respect to grain size, which is the inverse of what is expected of in ferrites. Our results suggest that oxygen deficiency plays a crucial role in explaining this inverse trend. We expect the method disclosed here to be a viable and scalable alternative to thermal decomposition based CoFe 2 O 4 synthesis. The magnetic trends reported will aid in the optimization of functional CoFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles.