This work presents two multifunctional magnetic hybrid materials with potential applications as micro-actuators. The first one consists of iron oxide (Fe2O3) nanoparticles embedded in polyvinyl butyral (PVB). For the second one, Fe2O3 nanoparticles, coated with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), were embedded in PVB. The main objective is to describe their synthesis and morphological and magnetic characterizations, and to evaluate their displacement against a variable magnetic field. The maximal displacement is obtained by the (Fe2O3-CMC)/PVB beam-shaped structure (28.37 x 2.6 x 0.183 mm3) with 843 μm; the maximal electric power being 1.14 W. The levels of displacement induced in both hybrid materials as a response of the external magnetic field, besides the low electric power required, let us conclude that the studied materials could be considered as good candidates to micro-actuators applications.

Low-cost La(FexSi1-x)13 alloys exhibiting the large magnetocaloric effect (MCE) are one of the most promising magnetic refrigerant candidates for room temperature magnetic refrigeration. The NaZn13-type phase (hereinafter 1:13 phase) is believed to play a key role in the MCE of these alloys. While the formation of the 1:13 phase directly from the melt upon cooling was challenging, in this paper we demonstrate that the 1:13 phase can be formed directly during solidification. We found that three kinds of solidification microstructure were formed because a competitive nucleation occurred between the 1:13 and α-(Fe,Si) phase during the solidification of LaFe11.5Si1.5 alloy. In case of a high cooling speed, a large amount of NaZn13–type phase with equiaxed grains and a small amount of α-(Fe,Si) phase were formed because of a dominant nucleation rate of 1:13 phase. When the cooling rate was small, a large number of α-(Fe,Si) phase with dendrites were formed because the nucleation rate of α-(Fe,Si) phase is larger than that of the 1:13 phase. These results revealed that nucleation rates of phases is very important to the composition formation and microstructure of LaFe11.5Si1.5 alloys.

Electrical and Optical measurements were carried out on permalloy oxide (PyO) thin films made by reactive dual ion beam sputtering at room temperature. VSM measurements at room temperature and 15 Kelvin did not reveal any magnetic moment in 120 nm thick films. The optical refraction and extinction spectra from 200-1000 nm were determined from ellipsometry measurements using a Cody-Lorentz model and provided in a reproducible method to determine the film thickness of PyO films on different substrate materials. PyO is transparent above 700 nm and is strongly absorbing below 500 nm. The resistivity values of PyO samples sputtered at room temperature depend on the oxygen flow rate and is approximately 4E3 Ohm cm for films prepared at 10 sccm. The resistivity of PyO decreases as a function of temperature. The dielectric constant is strongly frequency dependent, decreasing from 500 at 500 Hz to 10 at 1 MHz.

We investigate structural and magnetic properties of Co thin-film electrodes used in a new type of spin quantum cross (SQC) devices, in which a strong stray magnetic field could be generated between the both edges of magnetic thin-film electrodes. We also calculate the stray field between the two edges of Co thin-film electrodes in SQC devices and discuss the possibility to novel spintronics devices. As a result of magnetic force microscopy (MFM) observations, the stray fields are generated from the Co edges, and they are uniformly distributed. This result indicates that magnetic single-domain structures can be formed. This is consistent with the result obtained by magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE). The theoretical calculation reveals that the stray field exhibits as high as 7000 Oe under the condition that the distance between the two Co edges is 5 nm and the Co thickness is 19 nm. These results indicate that SQC devices utilizing stray fields can be expected as novel spintronics devices, such as spin filtering devices and beyond CMOS switching devices.

In the recent time spinel ferrite magnetic nanoparticles have been largely studied owing to various applications of these materials in the information storage, ferro-fluid technology, magnetocaloric effect, refrigeration and medical diagnostics. In this category cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) nanoparticles specifically gained huge research attention and prepared by various chemical methods. However, further investigations are still needed on the substituted CoFe2O4 (CFO) nanoparticles to explore their various characteristics. In this paper we present our results on Mn and Zn substituted cobalt ferrite (Co0.6Zn0.4Mn0.3Fe1.7O4 ) nanoparticles prepared by chemical co precipitation method. The x ray diffraction pattern of as prepared Co0.6Zn0.4Mn0.3Fe1.7O4 (CZFMO) nanoparticles indicated their average particle size =20 nm. Magnetic properties of these nanoparticles before and after thermal annealing have been compared. Magnetization (M) vs. field (H) loop measurements at T = 293 K on as prepared and thermally annealed CZFMO nano powders revealed an unusual feature contrary to CFO nanoparticles prepared under same conditions. The saturation magnetization (Ms) decreases after the thermal annealing unlike the usual increase in Ms observed for CFO nanoparticles. These nano sized CZFMO powder samples are further characterized by low temperature magnetic measurements; Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

Stoichiometric 4H-SrMnO3.0 nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized for the first time from thermal decomposition of a new heterometallic precursor [SrMn(edta)(H2O)5]·3/2H2O. From this precursor, highly homogeneous 4H-SrMnO3.0 nanoparticles with average particle size 70 nm are obtained. Local structural information, provided by atomically-resolved microscopy techniques, shows that 4H-SrMnO3.0 nanoparticles exhibit the same general structural features than the bulk material, although structural disorder, due to edge-dislocations, is observed. The nanometric size of particles enables a topotactic reduction process at low temperature stabilizing a metastable 4H-SrMnO2.82 phase. The oxygen deficiency is accommodated through extra cubic layers breaking the …hchc… 4H-sequence. These defect areas are Mn3+ rich as evidenced by high energy resolution EELS data. Magnetic characterization of nano-4H-SrMnO3-δ shows significant variations with respect to the bulk material.

In this paper, we discuss several strategies to tailor magnetic properties related to the magnetic anisotropy energy, such as the blocking temperature or the low temperature coercivity, of magnetic nanoparticles or materials made with magnetic nanoparticles. We describe a first approach that consists in synthesizing and dispersing bi and tri-magnetic core-shell nanoparticles that include a core made of a material with a weak anisotropy energy density and a shell made with a material with a large anisotropy energy density. This approach is a promising route to tune the blocking temperature of low temperature coercivity of a particle without altering its magnetization and with a good control of its size. Additionally, we also explore another route for the control of the shape of the hysteresis loop of material made with magnetic nanoparticles that consists in the simple mixture of magnetically soft and hard magnetic nanoparticles to create binary mixtures. In this case, it is the mixing ratio that allows one to adjust the properties of the final material.

The synthesis of bimetallic magnetic nanoparticles is very challenging because of the agglomeration and non-uniform size. In this paper, we present the synthesis of monodispersed 3-5 nm sized thiolated bimetallic alloyed Au/Co nanoparticles with decahedral and icosahedral shape, their characterization using Cs-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and magnetic measurements using superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer. The Z-contrast imaging and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) mapping showed an inhomogeneous alloying with minor segregation between Au and Co at nanoscale and the SQUID measurement exhibited the ferromagnetic behavior.

Ferromagnetic metal CoNi-based nano-objects have been synthesized in a polyol media within different elaboration conditions in order to drive their morphology (i.e. enhancing their length-to-diameter ratio ﴾d/L﴿, and changing the diameter d ratio over edge T width ﴾d/L﴿). Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) studies revealed unexpected effects on the Co80Ni20 nano-objects arising from the magnetic field assisted synthesis. This gave us the opportunity to compare this latter to coming from the variation of Ruthenium (III) chloride hydrate nucleating agent concentration. A Co80Ni20 anisotropic particles elaboration was successfully achieved under zero magnetic field assisted synthesis, while an important percentage of isotropic nanoparticles appeared immediately under the application of a small magnetic field (i.e. H > 500 Oe). In the first case we were able to sharply drive both the aspect ratio and head morphology of nanowires (T and ﴾d/T﴿). The good crystallinity and structures symmetry of all our samples have been proved by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) pattern analysis. Magnetic static properties showed a ferromagnetic standard behavior with a coercive field efficiency which was strongly dependent on shape parameters. The magnetic static behavior was studied within a standard Stoner-Wohlfart model as a function of the observed morphologies. Our observations are fully consistent with a shape anisotropy origin behavior of the enhanced coercivity measured as function of the decreasing ﴾d/L﴿ ratio. However, they revealed the presence of contributions to the global effective anisotropy coming from other complex terms then the shape one (i.e. conic head impressiveness, dipolar interactions and magnetocrystalline anisotropy).

The magnetocaloric effect of chemically synthesized Mn0.3Zn0.7Fe2O4 superparamagnetic nanoparticles with average crystallite size of 11 nm is reported. The magnitude of the magnetic entropy change (ΔSM), calculated from magnetization isotherms in the temperature range of 30 K to 400 K, increases from - 0.16 J-kg-1K-1 for a field of 1 T to - 0.88 J-kg-1K-1 for 5 T at room temperature. Our results indicate that ΔSM values are much higher than primarily reported values for this class of nanoparticles. ΔSM is not limited to the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition temperature; instead, it occurs over a broad range of temperatures, resulting in high relative cooling power.

Iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted a lot of interest due to their many potential applications in areas including optoelectronics, magneto-optics, high density data storage, etc. In particular, iron oxides (Fe3O4 and γ –Fe2O3) are also well suited for biomedical applications [1]. We have investigated Faraday Rotation (FR) response for two types of Fe2O3 NPs (in aqueous suspension) that are of the same average diameter (10 nm) but differ in one important respect; one group consists of uncoated particles whereas the other group is functionalized with caffeic acid. This system is being investigated and characterized for use in tumor imaging applications. Faraday rotation (FR) refers to the rotation of the polarization vector of a light beam as it passes through a sample in the presence of a magnetic field. FR can reveal interesting material properties such as saturation magnetization and wavelength dependent Verdet constant of the material under investigation. The latter is a measure of the magnetically induced birefringence of the material. Typically FR setups rely on AC or DC magnetic fields. While these are valuable techniques with their own advantages, this work focuses on a pulsed field setup that can reveal dynamic information about the resulting magnetization, as the magnetic response of the sample is measured in the presence of short intense fields on the order of 0.6 Tesla and lasting approximately 100 milliseconds. All experiments are carried out at excitation wavelength of 633 nm (He-Ne wavelength).

The two NP samples show very different response to the field pulses. The NP systems investigated in this work show very unique short term and long term behavior revealing various time scales of interest. These unique characteristic times for the functionalized vs. uncoated particles provide valuable clues about the magnetization response of the NP and its relationship to the detailed structure of the NPs (core vs. shell). Magnetic response from these systems persists long after the magnetic field pulse has subsided. This can be related to the relaxation modes (Néel vs. Brownian) and as possible evidence of NP size dispersion. Additionally, the possibility of agglomeration is also discussed. While more detailed quantitative analysis will be dealt with in a more comprehensive publication that is under preparation, we hope to show in this preliminary report both that the AC and pulsed FR measurements can reveal complimentary information and that FR in general can be a reliable technique, which can be used to develop a detailed picture of the magnetic response of these NP systems.

Magnetite nanoparticles were produced by the chemical co-precipitation of iron sulfates at alkaline conditions and were tested as a Cr(VI) adsorbent from water. Batch adsorption experiments showed a high removal efficiency, which is maximized at pH values below 6. This behavior was also verified in a continuous flow reactor, where nanoparticles were in contact with the polluted water. In particular, using a particle concentration of 1 g/L in water containing 100 μg Cr(VI)/L, a contact time of at least 2 h was required to achieve complete removal of Cr(VI). The recovery of nanoparticles after their use was accomplished using their magnetic nature. Application of an external magnetic field at the sides of the tube in which the suspension was flowing was sufficient to completely collect the nanoparticles in the outflow of the contact reactor, thus, providing water free of Cr(VI) and a solid phase.

A simple methodology to electrodeposit thin soft CoFe films with desirable microwave properties from simple salt solutions at room temperature is demonstrated. Plating solution parameters have diverse influences on real potentials of ion reductions and deposition behavior of the FeCo crystals, consequently affecting largely the particle size, crystal structure and chemical composition of the film fabricated. This in turn determines their static magnetism and dynamic microwave properties. Through optimizing solution additive, concentration and temperature from electrodeposition mechanism, the as-prepared nanofilms possess a low coercivity of < 30 Oe, moderate anisotropy of 60-90 Oe, high crystallinity and magnetic moment of ≥ 2.0 T, and hence readily display an ultrahigh magnetic permeability (up to 1128) and resonant frequency (up to 2.1 gigahertz) simultaneously, as well as other desirable physico-chemical properties. Thus the nanofilms can be applied to high gigahertz frequency applications.