PNNL

Abstract

The room temperature magnetic properties of core-shell iron-iron oxide nanoclusters (NCs) synthesized by a cluster deposition system have been investigated, and their dependence on mean cluster size has been discussed. In this study, the surface/boundary spins of clusters were not frozen and were thermally activated during the measurements. The inter-cluster interactions between clusters and intra-cluster interactions between the iron core (ferromagnetic) and iron oxide shell (ferrimagnetic) have been investigated by field dependent isothermal remanent magnetization and dc demagnetization measurements at room temperature. The Henkel plot and delta M plot support the existence of dipolar inter-cluster interactions which become stronger with the growth of cluster size. The derivative of the initial magnetization curve implies that smaller clusters require less field and time than the bigger ones to overcome various energy barriers before aligning along the field direction. Coercive field and magnetization are also correlated with the interaction parameters. To compare the room temperature magnetic results, one system was studied at low temperature, where exchange coupling at the interface between the oxide and metallic phases was observed through bias effect and anisotropy enhancement.