Fabrication and properties of magnetic particles with nanometer dimensions

Novel nanocrystalline inorganic materials ranging from metals to ternary me tal oxides and fluorides have been synthesized in aqueous solutions with re stricted environment of reverse micelles. This technique allowed also seque ntial synthesis leading to a core-shell type structure. Methods of synthesi s of nanoparticles of magnetic metals Fe, Co and alloys FePtX and CoPtX coa ted with gold, metal ferrites MFe2O4 (M = Mn, Fe and Co) and antiferromagne tic fluoromanganites NaMnF3 and KMnF3 have been developed. The synthesized materials were characterized using X-ray diffractometry, TEM microscopy wit h EDAX analysis and SQUID magnetometry. Novel physical properties of these materials are discussed with emphasis given to the differences between cour se and fine-grained magnetic materials. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.