Stable Single-Crystalline Body Centered Cubic Fe Nanoparticles

Published

April 20, 2011

Author(s)

Natalie F. Huls, Lise-Marie Lacroix, Don Ho, Xiaolian Sun, Shouheng Sun

Abstract

Air stable magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with high magnetization are required in order to fully realize optimized biomedical agents. However, only metallic NPs with good crystallinity such as Fe or FeCo, exhibit magnetization as high as 220 A.m.kg. Their synthesis and further stabilization are very challenging tasks which have been partially achieved by multiple steps processes. The synthesis of the crystalline core, based on high temperature thermodecomposition, an annealing step, or reduction under H_{2}, has to be followed by a secondary shell growth consisting of carbon, oxides or noble metal. Here, we report the first direct preparation of air stable single crystalline bcc Fe MNPs by thermodecomposition under mild conditions. These highly crystalline Fe MNPs are embedded in a native iron oxide shell which stabilizes them against further oxidation. These crystalline Fe/Fe_{3}O_{4} MNPs can be easily stabilized in acqueous media and present magnetic properties suitable for magnetic resonant imaging (MRI) and magnetic field hyperthermia (MFH) applications.

Citation

Nano Letters

Volume

11

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Fe nanoparticles, magnetic field hyperthermia, magnetic nanoparticles, MRI contrast enhancement, nanoparticle synthesis

Citation

Huls, N. , Lacroix, L. , Ho, D. , Sun, X. and Sun, S. (2011), Stable Single-Crystalline Body Centered Cubic Fe Nanoparticles, Nano Letters, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=906858 (Accessed March 16, 2025)