CHEMICAL SYNTHESIS OF NANOSTRUCTURED COBALT AT ELEVATED-TEMPERATURES

Chemical synthesis is a versatile technique for fabricating novel nano structured materials. In the Rieke process, a metal salt is reduced by an alkali in a hydrocarbon solvent to form small, highly reactive par ticles. Synthesis at an elevated temperature (200 degrees C) increases the as-synthesized particle size and produces higher coercivities and remanence ratios than observed in similar syntheses at room temperatu re. The ratio of synthesis temperature to solvent boiling point appear s to be an important parameter in both coercivity and oxidation resist ance.