Advanced Functional Materials
Advanced Functional Materials
5 years ago

XMCD and XMCD-PEEM Studies on Magnetic-Field-Assisted Self-Assembled 1D Nanochains of Spherical Ferrite Particles

XMCD and XMCD-PEEM Studies on Magnetic-Field-Assisted Self-Assembled 1D Nanochains of Spherical Ferrite Particles
Zuhong Lu, Andreas Scholl, Ya Zhai, Wen Zhang, Jian-Guo Zheng, Zhaoxia Kou, Jinjin Yue, Ping Kwan Johnny Wong, Dong Zhang, Gerrit van der Laan
Quasi-1D nanochains of spherical magnetic ferrite particles with a homogeneous particle size of ≈200 nm and a micrometer-sized chain length are fabricated via a self-assembly method under an external magnetic field. This assisting magnetic field (Hassist), applied during synthesis, significantly modifies the distribution of the Fe2+Oh, Fe3+Td, and Fe3+Oh cations in the chains, as demonstrated by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) combined with theoretical analysis. This provides direct evidence of the nontrivial role of external synthetic conditions for defining the crystal chemistry of nanoscale ferrites and in turn their magnetic properties, providing an extra degree of freedom for intentional control over the performances of 1D magnetic nanodevices for various applications. Magnetic imaging, performed via XMCD in photoemission electron microscopy, further shows the possibility of creating and trapping a series of adjacent magnetic domain walls in a single chain, suggesting that there is great application potential for these nanochains in 1D magnetic nanodevices, as determined by field- or current-driven domain wall motions. Practical control over the magnetic properties of the nanochains is also achieved by extrinsic dopants of cobalt and zinc, which are observed to occupy the ferrite ionic sites in a selective manner. Magnetic-field-assisted self-assembled 1D nanochains of spherical ferrite particles are investigated using X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), revealing the important role of Hassist in determining the magnetic properties of nanoscale ferrites. An assisting magnetic field during synthesis (Hassist) of 2500 Oe offers a favorable fabrication condition for obtaining suitable nanochains for applications in magnetic 1D nanodevices, and the first observation on the precise pinning of domain walls is achieved via XMCD in photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM).

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201701265

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.