Facile synthesis and tunable magnetization in carbon encapsulated Ni1-xMx(M = Fe, Co and Cu; 0≤x ≤0.5) ferromagnetic alloy nanoparticles

Abstract Here we report the soft wet chemical synthesis of Ni-based ferromagnetic alloy nanoparticles Ni1-xMx (M = Fe, Co and Cu; 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5). All the nanoparticles were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction, electron diffraction, high resolution-TEM analysis, EDX elemental mapping and magnetization measurements. The EDX elemental mapping confirms chemical homogeneity of the samples. In all samples, the lattices are dilated with increase in doped metals. TEM analysis revealed that the nanoparticles are encapsulated with carbon layers. All the samples are ferromagnetic at room temperature. The magnetization increases with increase in Fe and Co doping whereas it is suppressed with increase in Cu content, resulting a wide range of tunable magnetization. It is also observed that the magnetization of these alloy nanoparticles is very sensitive to the oxidation of metal. The present investigations reveal that by suitable chemical manipulation one can tune the magnetization of ferromagnetic alloy nanoparticles by facile synthesis route.