1ST STEPS TOWARDS TAILORING FINE AND ULTRAFINE IRON PARTICLES USING MICROEMULSIONS

Iron particles with diameters of less than 100 nm were prepared using microemulsions and their sizes were related to the size of the microdr oplets in the microemulsions. A certain control over the magnetic beha vior of the resulting materials was achieved through a process of fine tuning of the size of the particles. This control allowed the modific ation of this behavior from superparamagnetism to ferromagnetism at a given temperature by acting on simple and easily modifiable parameters of the fabrication procedure.