title: Pushing up the magnetisation values for iron oxide nanoparticles via zinc doping: X-ray studies on the particle's sub-nano structure of different synthesis routes.
abstract: The maximum magnetisation (saturation magnetisation) obtainable for iron oxide nanoparticles can be increased by doping the nanocrystals with non-magnetic elements such as zinc. Herein, we closely study how only slightly different synthesis approaches towards such doped nanoparticles strongly influence the resulting sub-nano/atomic structure. We compare two co-precipitation approaches, where we only vary the base (NaOH versus NH3), and a thermal decomposition route. These methods are the most commonly applied ones for synthesising doped iron oxide nanoparticles. The measurable magnetisation change upon zinc doping is about the same for all systems. However, the sub-nano structure, which we studied with Mössbauer and X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy, differs tremendously. We found evidence that a much more complex picture has to be drawn regarding what happens upon Zn doping compared to what textbooks tell us about the mechanism. Our work demonstrates that it is crucial to study the obtained structures very precisely when "playing" with the atomic order in iron oxide nanocrystals.
authors.affiliation: Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), Unter den Eichen 87, 12205 Berlin, Germany. wojciech.szczerba@bam.de and Academic Centre for Materials and Nanotechnology, AGH University of Science and Technology, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland.
authors.forename: Wojciech
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Szczerba
authors.affiliation: Academic Centre for Materials and Nanotechnology, AGH University of Science and Technology, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Żukrowski
authors.affiliation: Academic Centre for Materials and Nanotechnology, AGH University of Science and Technology, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland and Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Science, AGH University of Science and Technology, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland.
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Przybylski
authors.affiliation: Academic Centre for Materials and Nanotechnology, AGH University of Science and Technology, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland.
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sikora
authors.affiliation: Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Safonova
authors.affiliation: Trinity College Dublin, School of Chemistry, School of Physics & CRANN, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Aleksey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shmeliov
authors.affiliation: Trinity College Dublin, School of Chemistry, School of Physics & CRANN, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nicolosi
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC, Neunerplatz 2, 97082 Wuerzburg, Germany. karl-sebastian.mandel@isc.fraunhofer.de and Department of Chemical Technology of Materials Synthesis, University of Wuerzburg, Roentgenring 11, 97070 Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Technology of Materials Synthesis, University of Wuerzburg, Roentgenring 11, 97070 Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Granath
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, Translational Center "Regenerative Therapies for Oncology and Musculoskeletal Diseases", Roentgenring 11, 97070 Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Maximilian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oppmann
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC, Neunerplatz 2, 97082 Wuerzburg, Germany. karl-sebastian.mandel@isc.fraunhofer.de.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Straßer
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC, Neunerplatz 2, 97082 Wuerzburg, Germany. karl-sebastian.mandel@isc.fraunhofer.de and Department of Chemical Technology of Materials Synthesis, University of Wuerzburg, Roentgenring 11, 97070 Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mandel