Carbon-coated hexagonal magnetite nanoflakes production by spray CVD of alcohols in mixture with water

In this study, we report a successful technique for synthesizing magnetite hexagonal nanoflakes coated with carbon layers using spray thermal decomposition, which is a reproducible method that is easy to scale up. We investigated the effects of mixing different volumes of deionized (DI) water with alcohol on the population and quality of single-crystalline Fe3O4 hexagonal nanoflakes. Methanol and ethanol were used as the carbon and oxygen source, while ferrocene was mainly used as the Fe source. To obtain a large quantity of hexagonal structures, a strongly oxidative atmosphere was required. The DI water was used to enhance the oxidative environment during the reaction and was an important component for obtaining well-shaped hexagonal magnetite crystalline nanoflakes. The use of alcohols, water and the spray chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method make this procedure easy to use. In addition, this method provides a one-step process for synthesizing carbon-coated hexagonal Fe3O4 nanocrystals.