Synthesis and Characterization of Iron Nanowires

The iron nanowires can be fabricated via the process in which sodium borohydride reduces iron salts in external magnetic field. The iron nanowires are found to be covered by passivated layers of iron oxide which prevent the oxidation of iron nanowires. In this process, the boron will include in iron nanowires. The average length and diameter of iron nanowires is around 1.2 micrometers and 60 nanometers, respectively. According to ICP results, the contents of B and Fe are about 1.98 wt% and 87.04 wt%, respectively, in iron nanowires. A wide variety of equipment is used to investigate the morphological, microchemical, and structural characteristics of the newly synthesized iron nanowires ––– e.g., XRD, FE‐SEM, HR‐TEM, VSM and XANES. XANES analysis indicates the boron in iron nanowires exists in the form of B₂O₃. The saturation magnetization and the coercive force of iron nanowires are 157.93 emu/g and 9.74 Oe, respectively. In‐situ images of synthesized iron nanowires during reduction process in magnetic field are observed by NSRRC transmission X‐ray microscope. Thus, this study develop a novel process to produce iron nanowires with large quantitates and can control its length and diameter by various the concentration of precursors for various applications.