title: Alcohol dependent production of Fe3O4 and CoFe2O4 nanoparticles.
abstract: Commonly available alcohols of varying lengths and degree of branching were used to synthesize iron oxide, Fe3O4, and cobalt iron oxide, CoFe2O4, nanoparticles by means of a simple solvothermal decomposition of iron (III) acetylacetonates and cobalt (II) acetylacetonates. Depending on the solvent employed resulting Fe3O4 and CoFe2O4 nanoparticles ranged in size from approximately 5-16 nm and approximately 4-8 nm, respectively. All alcohols utilized resulted in the formation of nanoparticles with a spinel crystal structure, with the exception of methanol. Use of tert-butanol and phenol resulted in nearly spherical agglomerations of individual nanoparticles ranging between 100-250 nm. The resulting structures and morphologies of all samples were confirmed by X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. Mass specific moments are reported based on SQUID magnetometry, and ranged from 57.5(5)-76.4(3) emu/g for Fe3O4 and 47.7(7)-67.0(4) emu/g CoFe2O4.
authors.affiliation: Air Force Research Lab, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio 45433, USA.
authors.forename: Brandon J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Yocum
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Ekiert
authors.forename: Max D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: O'Malley