Superparamagnetic nickel nanoparticles obtained by an organometallic approach

Nickel nanoparticles were prepared by decomposition of the organometallic precursor Ni(COD)2 (COD=cycloocta-1,5-diene) dissolved in organic media in the presence of anthranilic acid as stabilizer. Transmission electron microscopy revealed nickel nanoparticles with a mean size of 4.2 ± 1.1 nm and selected area electron diffraction showed the formation of fcc nickel. FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the presence of modified anthranilic acid on the surface of the Ni nanoparticles suggesting that it is able to interact with the metal particles. The magnetic response of the nanoparticles was established as being of superparmagnetic character, for which a detailed quantitative analysis resulted in a mean magnetic moment of 2652 μB per particle together with a blocking temperature of 32 K.