Surface Spin Disorder in Fe3 O4 Nanoparticles Probed by Electron Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Magnetometry.

SQUID magnetometry and electron magnetic resonance (EMR) spectroscopy at 9.28 GHz were employed to probe magnetism and surface spin disorder in Fe3 O4 nanoparticles. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed magnetite particles with size ≃8 nm. Magnetization (M) versus temperature studies yielded blocking temperature TB ≃ 170 K in H = 50 Oe. For T > TB, M scales approximately as H/T with μP ≃ 5400 μB as the magnetic moment/particle. At 5 K, the magnitudes of hysteresis loop parameters viz. coercivity Hc ≃ 37 Oe and saturation magnetization M8 = 62 emu/g are considerably smaller than the reported values for larger 150 nm Fe3 O4 particles. In EMR studies, a single symmetric line at g ≃ 2.11 with linewidth ΔH = 850 Oe is observed at 300 K with the g-value and ΔH increasing with decreasing T. These results are interpreted in terms of a disordered surface spin layer of 0.5 nm thickness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]