Hydroxide Concentration Dependence of Magnetic Behavior at Low Temperature in MnFeO Nanoparticles.

MnFeO nanoparticles of various particle sizes were prepared by co-precipitation, in which different hydroxide concentrations were employed to control particle growth. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were used to investigate the nanoparticle structure and morphology (shape and size). The particle size increased with increasing hydroxide concentration. The magnetization and coercivity field were measured by vibrating sample magnetometry. Changes in magnetic behavior were observed in the magnetic hysteresis loop curves of nanoparticles with increasing hydroxide concentration. In the absence of hydroxide, nanoparticles exhibited paramagnetic behavior. Increasing the hydroxide concentration caused a gradual conversion to ferrimagnetic behavior. An increased Néel temperature was observed with increasing hydroxide concentration, and the saturation magnetization exhibited a sharp decrease. Nonuniform hysteresis was observed in the magnetization curve for the sample prepared from hydroxide and ammonium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]