Magnetic enhancement of pure gamma Fe₂O₃nanochains by chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

High-yield pure chain-like one-dimensional nanostructures consisting of single-crystal γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles have been produced by using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) approach. The constituents, phase, and magnetic properties of these nanochains have been determined. The synthesized nanochains can be reorganized under a weak magnetic field (about 0.4 T). The nanochain growth mechanism is proposed to be driven by magnetostatic interaction. The hysteresis loop was operated to show that the magnetic properties of the nanochains are strongly influenced by the morphology of the crystal. Room temperature magnetic measurements show that the as-fabricated γ-Fe2O3 nanochains are ferromagnetic with higher saturation magnetization and higher coercivity values than those of the counterpart bulk, which could have potential applications in spin filtering, high-density magnetic recording and nanosensors.