Magnetite nanowires in MCM-41 type mesoporous silica templates

MCM-41 mesoporous material was chosen as a template of very small Fe3O4 particles. The results of structural and magnetic studies of magnetite nanowires are reported. The average length of these nanowires is about 70 nm and their diameter is 3 nm. Magnetite polycrystalline nanowires were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction and 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy (MS). Almost 80% of the particles exist in a superparamagnetic state at room temperature. Mössbauer measurements also provided evidence that the composites displayed a distribution of magnetic particles by size. As a result, strong changes of superparamagnetic and magnetic relative contributions along with temperature were observed. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.