Magnetic susceptibility measurement of single iron/cobalt carbonyl microcrystal by atmospheric magnetophoresis

In this study, the use of an innovative atmospheric magnetophoresis, which enables us to measure the mass magnetic susceptibility and mass of a microparticle simultaneously, was demonstrated. Using this technique, we determined the magnetic susceptibility of a crystalline deposit of iron/cobalt carbonyl, mainly composed of Fe2(CO)9, which was prepared photochemically from a gaseous mixture of iron pentacarbonyl (Fe(CO)5) and cobalt tricarbonyl nitrosyl (Co(CO)3NO). The mass magnetic susceptibility and the characteristic relaxation time of the microcrystal were (7.0±1.9)×10−9 m3 kg−1 and (5.6±2.2)×10−4 s, respectively. The observed magnetic susceptibility shows that the microparticle was paramagnetic. Assuming that the density was equal to that of Fe2(CO)9 (2.1×103 kg m−3) and that the shape of the particle was spherical, a hydrodynamic radius of 4.7 μm and a mass of 0.91 ng were observed. It was suggested that Co was incorporated in Fe2(CO)9.