Synthesis and characterization of FePt nanoparticles and FePt nanoparticle/SiO2-matrix composite films

Superparamagnetic face-centered cubic (fcc) FePt nanoparticles were synthesized using a polyol process. The effect of reaction temperature and molar ratio of Fe(CO)5 to Pt(acac)2 on the structure, composition and morphology of nanoparticles has been investigated. The optimum processing condition has been obtained for producing well-monodisperse fcc-phase FePt nanoparticles with the 2:1 molar ratio of Fe-Pt at 220 °C. In order to circumvent the problem of FePt particle coalescence during high temperature annealing for the L10 ordering, FePt nanoparticle/SiO2-matrix composite films have been fabricated by sol–gel method. The experimental results confirm that the amorphous SiO2 matrix effectively inhibits the grain growth and particle aggregation during 700 °C annealing for 1 h. Well-monodisperse face-centered tetragonal (fct) FePt particles embedded in the SiO2 matrix can be obtained with the long-range chemical order parameter S of ~0.74, indicating partially ordered L10 phase transition in FePt/SiO2 composite films. The FePt/SiO2 system exhibits a hysteretic behavior with smaller coercive field of 1,450 Oe. The incomplete phase transition from cubic deredat height maxsium (A 1-disordered phase to tetragonal L10-ordered phase) might be responsible for it.