title: A microfibre assembly of an iron-carbon composite with giant magnetisation.
abstract: Iron carbide is among the oldest known materials. The utility of this ancient advanced material is greatly extended in its nanostructured forms. We demonstrate for the first time that one-dimensional iron carbide microfibres can be assembled in liquid using strong magnetic field-assisted laser ablation. The giant saturation magnetisation of these particles was measured a 261 emu/g at room temperature, which is the best value reported to date for iron nitride and carbide nanostructures, is 5.5 times greater than the 47 emu/g reported for Fe3C nanoparticles, and exceeds the 212 emu/g for bulk Fe. The magnetic field-induced dipolar interactions of the magnetic nanospheres and the nanochains played a key role in determining the shape of the product. These findings lead to a variety of promising applications for this unique nanostructure including its use as a magnetically guided transporter for biomedicine and as a magnetic recording material.
authors.affiliation: 1] State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Institute of Optoelectronic and Functional Composite Materials, Nanotechnology Research Center, School of Physics & Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, Guangdong, P. R. China [2].
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Pu
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Hongbo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Chengxin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Guowei
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang