Identifying the presence of magnetite in an ensemble of Iron-oxide nanoparticles: A comparative Neutron diffraction study between bulk and nanoscale.Show others and affiliations
2021 (English)In: Nanoscale Advances, E-ISSN 2516-0230, Vol. 3, p. 3491-Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Scientific interest in iron–oxides and in particular magnetite has been renewed due to the broad scope of its fascinating properties, which are finding applications in electronics and biomedicine. Specifically, iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) are gathering attraction in biomedicine. Their cores are usually constituted by a mixture of maghemite/magnetite phases. In view of this, to fine-tune the properties of an ensemble of IONPs towards their applications, it is essential to enhance mass fabrication processes towards the production of monodispersed IONPs with controlled size, shape, and stoichiometry. We exploit the vacancy sensitivity of the Verwey transition to detect the presence of magnetite. Here we are providing a direct evidence of the Verwey transition in an ensemble of IONPs through neutron diffraction. This transition is observed as a variation in the Fe moment at the octahedral sites and, in turn, gives rise to a change of the net magnetic moment. Finally, we show this variation as the microscopic ingredient driving the characteristic kink that hallmarks the Verwey transition in thermal variation of magnetization.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
RSC , 2021. Vol. 3, p. 3491-
National Category
Materials Chemistry
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-52937DOI: 10.1039/D0NA00830COAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-52937DiVA, id: diva2:1545169
2021-04-192021-04-192022-02-23Bibliographically approved