Morphology and magnetic properties of Fe3O 4 nanodot arrays using template-assisted epitaxial growth.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Guan, Xiao-Fen Chen, Dan Quan, Zhi-Yong Jiang, Feng-Xian Deng, Chen-Hua Gehring, Gillian Anne Xu, Xiao-Hong
Abstract	Arrays of epitaxial Fe3O4 nanodots were prepared using laser molecular beam epitaxy (LMBE), with the aid of ultrathin porous anodized aluminum templates. An Fe3O4 film was also prepared using LMBE. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy images showed that the Fe3O4 nanodots existed over large areas of well-ordered hexagonal arrays with dot diameters (D) of 40, 70, and 140 nm; height of approximately 20 nm; and inter-dot distances (Dint) of 67, 110, and 160 nm. The calculated nanodot density was as high as 0.18 Tb in.−2 when D = 40 nm. X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that the as-grown Fe3O4 nanodots and the film had good textures of (004) orientation. Both the film and the nanodot arrays exhibited magnetic anisotropy; the anisotropy of the nanoarray weakened with decreasing dot size. The Verwey transition temperature of the film and nanodot arrays with D ≥ 70 nm was observed at around 120 K, similar to that of the Fe3O4 bulk; however, no clear transition was observed from the small nanodot array with D = 40 nm. Results showed that magnetic properties could be tailored through the morphology of nanodots. Therefore, Fe3O4 nanodot arrays may be applied in high-density magnetic storage and spintronic devices.
ISSN	19317573
Journal	Nanoscale Research Letters
Volume Number	10
PubMed Central reference number	PMC4493851
Issue Number	1
PubMed reference number	26055471
e-ISSN	1556276X
DOI	10.1186/1556-276x-10-4
Language	English
Publisher	Springer
Publisher Date	2015-01-06
Publisher Place	New York
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. © Guan et al.; licensee Springer. 2015
Subject Keyword	Fe3O4 Nanodot arrays PAA templates Magnetic properties
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Condensed Matter Physics Materials Science