Use of silicate shells to prevent sintering during thermally induced chemical ordering of iron platinum nanoparticles.

摘要

Its very high value of magnetocrystalline anisotropy makes the L1 0 phase of FePt a leading candidate for future high density magnetic recording systems. FePt nanoparticles can be prepared by a number of chemical methods. However, these particles have a face-centered cubic structure, with low anisotropy and are superparamagnetic. They must be heated to temperatures above 500 °C to obtain the chemically ordered L10 phase. However, during heating the particles coalesce to give twinned grains with large sizes (10-30 nm). Here we provide a solution to the sintering problem by developing a sol-gel procedure for coating the FePt particles with an amorphous silica shell. The silica shell prevents the FePt particles from agglomerating when heated to 700 °C to effect chemical ordering.;FePt nanoparticles were prepared by the super-hydride reduction of platinum(II) acetylacetonate and iron(II) chloride in hot diphenyl ether in the presence of oleylamine and oleic acid capping ligands. The particles had an average diameter of 5-6 nm, a face-centered cubic structure and were superparamagnetic. The particles were coated using a microemulsion process producing a 6 nm silicon oxide shell with a single nanoparticle core-shell structure. The nanoparticles were heated to 700 °C for times of 30 min and 1hr to achieve L10 phase transformation. These samples were annealed in a tube furnace under 95% Ar/5% H2.;Many procedures were found to be ineffective. They mostly consisted of biphasic reaction systems and several trials where reaction variables were altered in search of the appropriate conditions. This work has impacted the search for a higher density magnetic recording medium by allowing the study of FePt under a protected environment while achieving chemical ordering. If the L10 FePt nanoparticles will be used in magnetic recording, the particles will require a hard coating to prevent wear. In the course of the present work, it has been shown that the silicate shells agglomerate to form a continuous silicate matrix.