Effect of Additives on the Formation of SmCo Magnetic Nanoparticles by Chemical Synthesis

Abstract

Monodispersed magnetic SmCo nanoparticles have been prepared by polyol synthesis using non-toxic inorganic precursors (nitrates). The effect of the additives of NaOH, HNO3, CH3COOH and poly vinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) on the formation of SmCo nanoparticles is studied in this paper. The results indicate that base solution can boost the reduction of Co while acid solution is helpful for the formation of SmCo due to decreasing the reduction velocity of Co. CH3COOH is appropriate additive for the synthesis of SmCo nanoparticles, but more addition of CH3COOH will result in the emergence of CoC2 phase and decrease the coercivity of the resultants. The additive of PVP not only is a dispersing agent, but can prevent them from oxidating during preparation process. The SmCo nanoparticles with a size of 5-8 nm have the ferromagnetic properties of high coercivity (>1000 Oe).