Tracking iron oxide nanoparticles in plant organs using magnetic measurements

Common bean plants were grown in soil and irrigated with water solutions containing different concentrations of \(\hbox{Fe}_3\hbox{O}_4\) nanoparticles (NPs) with a mean diameter close to 10 nm. No toxicity on plant growth has been detected as a consequence of Fe deficiency or excess in leaves. In order to track the \(\hbox{Fe}_3\hbox{O}_4\) NPs, magnetization measurements were performed in soils and in three different dried organs of the plants: roots, stems, and leaves. Some magnetic features of both temperature and magnetic field dependence of magnetization M(T, H) arising from \(\hbox{Fe}_3\hbox{O}_4\) NPs were identified in all the three organs of the plants. Based on the results of saturation magnetization \(M_\mathrm{s}\) at 300 K, the estimated number of \(\hbox{Fe}_3\hbox{O}_4\) NPs was found to increase from 2 to 3 times in leaves of common bean plants irrigated with solutions containing magnetic material. The combined results indicated that M(T, H) measurements, conducted in a wide range of temperature and applied magnetic fields up to 70 kOe, constitute a useful tool through which the uptake, translocation, and accumulation of magnetic nanoparticles by plant organs may be monitored and tracked.     

Magnetic properties of jet-printer inks containing dispersed magnetite nanoparticles

Two ferrofluid inks for jet-printing, containing magnetite NPs of slightly different average radius (sample A: 6 nm; sample B: 8 nm) were prepared by adding a dispersion of magnetite nanopowders in n-hexane to an insulating ink. Isothermal magnetization loops of inks were measured by means of a vibrating sample magnetometer in the temperature interval 5–300 K up to 70 kOe. The inks were then ejected at room temperature on standard paper by means of either a thermal ink jet head (TIJ; sample A) or a piezoelectric ink jet head (PIJ; sample B). Magnetic properties of prints on paper (FC/ZFC curves, isothermal magnetic loops and related hysteretic properties) were measured between 10 and 300 K using an alternating gradient force magnetometer up to 20 kOe. The inks display a different magnetic behavior with respect to both prints. In particular, the dispersed NPs are characterized by an effective radius (and ensuing magnetic interaction) larger than expected on the basis of the properties of the starting powders. Instead, the NP radii in both prints are closer to the starting values. The printed magnetic films show an almost perfect superparamagnetic (SP) response around room temperature; however, at temperatures lower than 100 K the SP scaling is not observed and both samples behave as interacting superparamagnetic (ISP) materials. The evolution from the SP to the ISP regime is marked by a steady increase in the hysteretic properties of both samples. Particular attention will be paid to the study of magnetic interactions occurring among NPs. The effect of the ejection process on the degree of aggregation of magnetite NPs will be here studied.     

Transition from antiferromagnetic interlayer ordering to superparamagnetic state in Fe/Cr nanostructures by varying Fe thickness

Transition from antiferromagnetic exchange coupling of the Fe layers tosuperparamagnetic state of the Fe/Cr nanostructures is studiedexperimentally and theoretically. The experimental study are performed bymeans of magnetoresistance and magnetization measurements as well asMössbauer spectroscopy for the nanostructures with Fe layers thicknessesfrom 1.4 Å up to 16 Å alternating by 10 Å of Cr layers. It isshown that Fe layers in the nanostructures with thicknesses less than2 Å are not continuous but consist of separate ferromagnetic clusters.Such cluster-layered nanostructures exhibit Langevin paramagnetism of thesuperparamagnetic clusters and the Kondo-like behavior of the resistance.For the considered nanostructures, a modeling of Fe and Cr atoms randomdeposition for the interface layers and self-consistent calculations of themagnetic moments distribution in Periodic Anderson model are carried out. Itis shown that, for nanostructures with extremely thin Fe layers, the Feclusters with lateral size in the range of 11 to 20 Å areself-organized. Calculations of magnetic moments distribution result inhistograms which coincide with the hyperfine field distributions obtained byMössbauer spectroscopy.     

EPR and Magnetization Studies of Polymer-Derived Fe-Doped SiCN Nanoceramics Annealed at Various Temperatures: Blocking Temperature,Superparamagnetism and Size Distributions

X-band EPR spectra on SiCN ceramics, doped with Fe(III) ions, annealed at 800 °C, 1000 °C, 1100 °C, 1285 °C, and 1400 °C have been simulated to understand better their magnetic properties, accompanied by new magnetization measurements in the temperature range of 5–400 K for zero-field cooling (ZFC) and field cooling (FC) at 100C. The EPR spectra reveal the presence of several kinds of Fe-containing nanoparticles with different magnetic properties. The maxima of the temperature variation of ZFC magnetization were exploited to estimate (i) the blocking temperature, which decreased with annealing temperature of the samples and (ii) the distribution of the size of Fe-containing nanoparticles in the various samples, which was found to become more uniform with increasing annealing temperature, implying that more homogenous magnetic SiCN/Fe composites can be fabricated by annealing at even higher temperatures than 1400 °C to be used as sensors. The hysteresis curves showed different behaviors above (superparamagnetic), below (ferromagnetic), and about (butterfly shape) the respective average blocking temperatures, 〈T_B〉. An analysis of the coercive field dependence upon temperature reveals that it follows Stoner–Wohlfarth model for the SiCN/Fe samples annealed above 1100 °C, from which the blocking temperatures was also deduced.     

Magnetism of colossal magnetoresistance material Fe1−x Cd x Cr2S4

The magnetism of the colossal magnetoresistance material FeCr₂S₄ was studied through substitution by nonmagnetic element Cd. With the increase of Cd content, the high-field magnetization measured at 5 K increases, demonstrating a ferromagnetic Cr–Cr interaction in CdCr₂S₄. As comparing with the anti-ferromagnetic material ZnCr₂S₄, it is deduced that the ferromagnetic interaction in CdCr₂S₄ is favored by its larger Cr–Cr distance. On the other hand, due to Cd substitution, the low-field magnetization irreversibility between zero-field-cooling and field-cooling magnetization weakens with the increase of Cd content and disappears at last when x = 1 in the Fe_1?x Cd _x Cr₂S₄ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) system. By taking account of the single-ion anisotropy of the ferrous ion on the tetrahedral site, the picture of irreversible magnetic behavior induced by magnetic anisotropy is examined.     

Fabrication high-purity Fe nanochains with near theoretical limit value of saturation magnetization of bulk Fe

High-yield purity chain-like one-dimensional nanostructures consisting of single crystal Fe nanoparticles have been produced by using solution dispersion approach. Room temperature magnetic measurement shows that the as-fabricated Fe nanochains are ferromagnetic with a high saturation magnetization (203 emu/g) whereas the nanoparticles are single magnetic domains, which indicate that the as-synthesized products have superparamagnetism behavior with the saturation magnetization of about 28 emu/g. Maybe this results from the directional alignment of the nanoparticles. The excellent characteristic may have led to the potential applications in spin filtering, high density magnetic recording, and nanosensors.     

Influence of a Cr seed layer on the magnetic anisotropy of epitaxial Fe/Ag films on MgO(001)

The magnetic anisotropy of epitaxial 300 Å thick Fe films on Ag and Ag/Cr buffer layers on MgO(001) has been studied by ferromagnetic resonance and magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements. The samples were grown by molecular beam epitaxy at ambient temperature. A reduction of the effective magnetization for the samples with a Ag buffer layer is attributed to strain and dislocation formation as seen from X-ray diffraction measurements at low and high angles. In the samples with a Cr seed layer, a higher magnetic anisotropy is found which correlates with a reduced roughness.     

Magnetic Properties of Fe/Ni and Fe/Co Multilayer Thin Films

In this work, the magnetic and transport properties of Fe/SiO₂/Ni and Fe/SiO₂/Co multilayers grown on Si/SiO₂ substrates have been studied. The samples have been prepared by two-stage deposition process. In the first stage, Fe layer and SiO₂ interlayer of both samples are grown by ion beam deposition technique at room temperature. Then the samples are taken out to ambient atmosphere and loaded into a pulse laser deposition (PLD) chamber. Prior to the deposition of top layer, the samples are cleaned by annealing at 150 °C. In the second stage, Ni (or Co) layer is prepared by PLD technique at room temperature. The thickness of deposited layers has been measured by Rutherford back scattering (RBS). Magnetic properties of ferromagnetic bilayers have been investigated by room-temperature ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) techniques. Standard four-point magneto-transport measurements at various temperatures have been performed. Two-step switching in the in-plane hysteresis loops of Fe/SiO₂/Ni and Fe/SiO₂/Co samples is observed. A crossing in the middle of hysteresis loops of both samples points to a weak antiferromagnetic interaction between the magnetic layers of the stacks. Saturation magnetization values have been obtained from the VSM measurements of samples with DC magnetic field perpendicular to the films surface. Magneto-transport measurements have shown the predominant contribution of anisotropic magnetic resistance both at room and low temperatures. FMR studies of Fe/SiO₂/Ni and Fe/SiO₂/Co samples have revealed additional non-uniform (surface and bulk SWR) modes, which behavior has been explained in the framework of the surface inhomogeneity model. An origin of the antiferromagnetic interaction has been discussed.     

Polarized neutron reflectometry of Fe/Cr/Gd superlattices

The magnetic structure of Fe/Cr/Gd superlattices is investigated using complementary methods of SQUID magnetometry and polarized neutron reflectometry. The complex magnetic behavior of the given system is caused by exchange interaction between the 3d (Fe) and 4f (Gd) layers of the ferromagnetic metals through the Cr antiferromagnetic spacer layer. It is found that a nonuniform profile of magnetization forms within the Gd layers under the influence of this interlayer interaction.     

Biquadratic exchange coupling in an unequal Fe/Cr/Fe(1 0 0) trilayer

We have investigated the magnetic properties of a (1 0 0)-oriented unequal trilayer, Fe(45 Å)/Cr(30 Å)/Fe(15 Å), by means of Brillouin light scattering and magnetization measurements. The experimental results show that this sample highlights the effect of biquadratic coupling which aligns the magnetization of the Fe layers at 90° to each other. We extracted the bilinear and biquadratic coupling strengths by fitting the experimental results with a theory that treats the static and dynamic responses on an equal footing. Our results confirm that the model describes both the static and dynamic properties even when the magnetization of the layers is aligned at 90°. The coupling strengths, and their temperature dependence, are discussed and compared with other results reported in the literature.     

Magnetization and neutron diffraction studies on FeCrP

Crystal structure and magnetic behaviour of FeCrP have been investigated using magnetization and neutron diffraction measurements. FeCrP crystallizes in orthorhombic FeZrP type structure (P_nma space group,Z = 4) in which Cr atoms occupy the pyramidal site and Fe atoms occupy the tetrahedral site with total preference. Structural parameters including positional parameters have been refined. The refined values of positional parameters for Fe and Cr are quite different from those in FeZrP. The nature of magnetization-temperature curve is suggestive of antiferromagnetic nature withT _N = 280 (±10) K. Preliminary analysis of neutron diffraction pattern at 13 K is indicative of a rather complicated magnetic structure.     

Mössbauer spectroscopic studies of Fe-20 wt.% Cr ball milled alloy

Interesting differences were noticed in the alloying process during ball milling of Fe-10 wt.% Cr and Fe-20 wt.% Cr alloys by ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopic studies. In both cases, there is almost no diffusion of Fe in Cr or vice versa up to 20 h of milling time. As the powders are milled for another 20 h substantive changes occur in the Mössbauer spectra showing atomic level mixing. But the two compositions behave differently with respect to alloying. Fe-20 wt.% Cr sample does not differ much in the hyperfine field distribution as it is milled from 40 to 100 h. On the other hand, the hyperfine field distribution keeps on changing with milling time for Fe-10 wt.% Cr sample even up to 100 h of milling. The average crystallite size is found to be 7.5 nm for Fe-10 wt.% Cr and 6.5 nm in Fe-20 wt.% Cr after milling.     

Magnetic composites from minerals: study of the iron phases in clay and diatomite using Mössbauer spectroscopy, magnetic measurements and XRD

Magnetic particles as matrix for enzyme immobilization have been used and due to the enzymatic derivative can be easily removed from the reaction mixture by a magnetic field. This work presents a study about the synthesis and characterization of iron phases into magnetic montmorillonite clay (mMMT) and magnetic diatomaceous earth (mDE) by ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy (MS), magnetic measurements and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Also these magnetic materials were assessed as matrices for the immobilization of invertase via covalent binding. Mössbauer spectra of the magnetic composites performed at 4.2 K showed a mixture of magnetite and maghemite about equal proportion in the mMMT, and a pure magnetite phase in the sample mDE. These results were verified using XRD. The residual specific activity of the immobilized invertase on mMMT and mDE were 83 % and 92.5 %, respectively. Thus, both magnetic composites showed to be promising matrices for covalent immobilization of invertase.     

Magnetic properties of nanoparticles of Prussian blue-based molecular magnets M 3[Cr(CN)6]2⋅zH2O (M=Fe, Co, and Ni)

The nanoparticles of Prussian blue-based molecular magnets, M ₃[Cr(CN)₆]₂?zH₂O (where M=Fe, Co, and Ni), prepared by a slow addition (drop by drop) of chemicals using the co-precipitation method, are investigated by means of X-ray diffraction, infra red spectroscopy and dc magnetization measurement techniques. The formation of nanoparticles has been confirmed by scanning electron microscopy, whereas the characteristic peak, observed in the range of 1900–2300 cm^?1 in the infrared spectra, corresponds to the CN stretching frequency of $\mbox{Cr}^{\mathrm{+III}}$ –CN– $M^{\mathrm{+II}}$ , and confirms the formation of Prussian blue compounds. The results, derived from the Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction patterns, reveal that all samples are nanocrystalline in nature with a face-centered cubic crystal structure of space group Fm3m. The particle size and the lattice constants decrease with an increasing atomic number of the transition metals (M=Fe, Co and Ni). The magnetization data show a magnetically ordered state of all nanoparticle samples with a low coercivity (except for the Fe₃[Cr(CN)₆]₂?zH₂O) as well as the remanent magnetization. In addition, by varying M with Fe, Co and Ni, the magnetic ordering temperature increases from ～12 to ～28 K, whereas the maximum magnetization and the coercive field decrease from ～14 to ～4.5 μ_B/f.u. and ～554 to ～22 Oe, respectively. The observed magnetization behavior has been discussed in terms of the structural changes due to the decreasing particle size as well as the varying nature of the metal ions.     

Inhomogeneous ferromagnetic resonance modes in [Fe/Cr]n superlattices with a high biquadratic exchange constant

In a set of [Fe/Cr]_n superlattices, magnetization curves and spectra of ferromagnetic resonance under an in-plane magnetic field have been studied at room temperature. Along with the acoustic branch, several additional branches have been observed in resonance spectra. Resonance spectra have been calculated analytically for a structure with an infinite number of layers and numerically for finite numbers of layers in real samples using a model of biquadratic exchange taking account of the fourth-order magnetic anisotropy. A possibility of describing both static and resonance properties of the system in terms of this model has been demonstrated. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 116, 1817–1833 (November 1999)     

Orientation magnetic phase transition induced by shock loading of the Fe–Cr–Co alloy

The strength characteristics of Fe–Cr–Co alloys have been investigated under high-strain-rate deformation of samples. It has been found that, under shock-wave loading, a significant remanent magnetization appears in the samples and their fragments due to the orientation magnetic phase transition. The threshold pressures of the magnetic phase transition have been determined, and the distribution of the remanent magnetization in the samples has been analyzed.     

Magnetotransmission and magnetoreflection in multilayer FeCr nanostructures

The magnetotransmission and magnetoreflection spectra of a seven-layer Cr(28 Å)/Fe(36 Å)/Cr(13 Å)/Fe(18 Å)/Cr(13 Å)/Fe(36 Å)/Cr(28 Å) film, their temperature and field dependences measured at various directions of a magnetic field with respect to the film plane, and the correlations between these effects are studied. The experimental results are compared with the data on the magnetization and transverse Kerr effect. The magnetotransmittance and magnetoreflectance are calculated for this film in terms of the magnetorefractive effect theory. Apart from the film layer thickness, the effective relaxation time, the plasma frequency, and the spin asymmetry parameter are shown to strongly affect both the magnitudes and spectral dependences of the magnetotransmittance and magnetoreflectance. Although the calculation results qualitatively describe the signs and the spectral and field dependences of the magnetotransmittance and magnetoreflectance, they do not agree quantitatively with the experimental results, in particular, near the visible region. The causes of the quantitative discrepancies are discussed.     

Synthesis and characterization of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Monodisperse iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) of 4 nm were obtained through high-temperature solution phase reaction of iron (III) acetylacetonate with 1, 2-hexadecanediol in the presence of oleic acid and oleylamine. The as-synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetic measurements. The species obtained were Fe₃O₄ and/or $\upgamma$ -Fe₂O₃. These NPs are superparamagnetic at room temperature and even though the reduced particle size they show a high saturation magnetization (MS ≈ 90 emu/g).     

Magnetic nanoparticles as building blocks for high-performance magnetic materials

We report on the magnetic behaviour of films of Fe nanoparticles deposited from the gas phase with sizes in the range 2–3 nm embedded in Ag and Co matrices and Co nanoparticles of the same size embedded in Ag matrices. Magnetometry measurements, using a VSM, of very low volume fraction (1–2%) assemblies of Fe and Co in Ag show perfect superparamagnetism and enable us to confirm that the size distribution of the particles in the matrix is the same as that of the free particles prior to deposition. The hysteresis loops at 2 K, which is below the blocking temperature, show that the particles have a uniaxial anisotropy that is randomly oriented in three dimensions with the Co nanoparticles having a much higher anisotropy than the Fe particles. The soft magnetic behaviour of pure Fe and Co nanoparticle films with no matrix is well described by a random anisotropy model and is consistent with the formation of a correlated super-spin glass (CSSG) characteristic of amorphous materials. The Co nanoparticle films appear to have a lower random anisotropy than the Fe ones in contrast to the behaviour observed for the isolated particles. Films of Fe nanoparticles embedded in Co matrices, whose saturation magnetization exceeds the Slater–Pauling curve, also show magnetic behaviour consistent with a CSSG. At high volume fractions, the films of Fe nanoparticles embedded in Co matrices behave almost identically to films of pure Co nanoparticles.     

Theoretical and experimental study of Fe/Cr nanometric quasiperiodic multilayers

An experimental and theoretical study of magnetization curves of Fe/Cr nanometric magnetic films grown with the structure of the quasiperiodic Fibonacci sequence is presented. Fe ferromagnetic films with interfilm exchange coupling provided by intervening Cr non-ferromagnetic layers were grown on MgO (100) by dc magnetron sputtering at 300 ^°C. The magnetization curves were investigated using the magneto-optical Kerr effect with the external field applied along the easy axis. The theoretical approach for this system is based on a realistic phenomenological model that includes the following contributions to free magnetic energy: Zeeman, cubic magneto-crystalline anisotropy, as well as bilinear and biquadratic exchange energies. Our numerical results are in very good agreement with the experimental data.