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A Facile Route to Synthesis of Ferromagnetic and Antiferromagnetic Phases of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles by Controlled Heat Treatment of Ferritin

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Abstract

Magnetic nanoparticles of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases were synthesized from controlled heat treatment of dry ferritin powder in a bottom-up approach. Heat treatment paves the way for synthesis of Fe2O3 solid phase from iron molecular complexes stored in the cavity of ferritin; the strong increase (~ 150 times) in saturation magnetization is a sign of the presence of ferromagnetic exchange coupling which exists only in solid phase. In this experimental study, vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) was used to study magnetic induction. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were employed for analysis of structure and morphology of the samples. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to search for indicators of structural phase transformation through scanning of temperature. The nanoparticle size with highly narrow distribution (mean size ~ 6 nm) was observed by SEM for sample annealed at 430 °C. As indicated by XRD measurements, the majority phase of Fe2O3 nanoparticles was amorphous up to 500 °C, whereas DSC demarcates the crystalline phase transition temperature at 545 °C. The annealing temperature range from 400 to 500 °C was found to be suitable for growing ferromagnetic nanoparticles endowed with high saturation magnetization and low coercivity. At higher range of annealing temperature (500–700 °C), XRD confirms the presence of α-Fe2O3 (haematite) phase which is an antiferromagnetic crystalline system with weak magnetization. A systematic decline of magnetization on increasing the annealing temperature beyond 500 °C was attributed to finite size effects and increased purity of antiferromagnetic phase.

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Acknowledgements

SK thankfully acknowledges the University Grants Commission for National Fellowship scheme for SC (erstwhile–RGNF, Lett. No. F1-17.1/2016-17/RGNF-2015-17-SC-HIM-18502/(SA-III/Website)) for the financial support as fellowship towards pursuance of Ph.D. We acknowledge XRD facility established under DST-SAIF at the Panjab University. We acknowledge the DSC facility under DST-CURIE grant (SR/CURIE-PHASE-III/01/2015 (G)) at the Banasthali Vidyapith (DSC 204 F1 Phoenix, NETZSCH) and IIT Mandi for SEM facility (JFEI, Nova Nano SEM-450). Authors are thankful to Varsha for conducting measurements at the Banasthali Vidyapith.

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  1. Department of Physics, Himachal Pradesh University, Summer Hill, Shimla, 171005, India

    Sunil Kumar, Anjali Thakur & Amarjeet Singh

  2. Department of Physics, Banasthali Vidyapith, Banasthali, Rajasthan, 304022, India

    Saral K. Gupta

  3. Atomic & Molecular Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai, 400085, India

    Parasmani Rajput

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Kumar, S., Thakur, A., Gupta, S.K. et al. A Facile Route to Synthesis of Ferromagnetic and Antiferromagnetic Phases of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles by Controlled Heat Treatment of Ferritin. J Supercond Nov Magn 33, 3841–3852 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10948-020-05649-1

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