Preparation and characterization of Co-Pt bimetallic magnetic nanoparticles

COPt3 nanoparticles are synthesized by a two-stage route using NaBH4 as a reductant. The nanoparticles are characterized by thermogravimetry (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Structural and spectroscopic studies show that the nanoparticles adopt a face-centered-cubic (FCC) crystalline structure with an average particle size of 2.6 nm. SQUID studies reveal that as-synthesized nanoparticles are superparamagnetic at room temperature and ferromagnetic at 1.85 K with coercivity of 980 Oe. Annealing of the samples at 500 degrees C causes an increase of particle size and a decrease of coercivity. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.