Magnetism of directly ordered Sm-Co clusters

Authors

• Balamurugan Balasubramanian, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Ralph Skomski, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Xingzhong Li, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
• George C. Hadjipanayis, University of DelawareFollow
• David J. Sellmyer, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2012

Citation

JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 111, 07B527 (2012); doi:10.1063/1.3677668

Comments

Copyright 2012 American Institute of Physics. Used by permission.

Abstract

Sm-Co bulk alloys have shown superior permanent-magnet properties, but research on Sm-Co nanoparticles is challenging because of the need to control particle size, size-distribution, crystalline ordering, and phase purity. In the present study, a cluster-deposition method was used to produce Sm-Co nanoparticles having desired crystal structures without the requirement of subsequent high-temperature thermal annealing. Poorly crystallized SmCo₅ nanoparticles exhibit a low room-temperature coercivity of only 100 Oe, whereas crystalline SmCo₅ and Sm₂Co₁₇ nanoparticles show room-temperature coercivities of 2000 and 750 Oe, respectively. The direct synthesis of Sm-Co nanoparticles having sizes of less than 10 nm and a high degree of atomic ordering is an important step toward creating nanoparticle building blocks for permanent-magnets and other significant applications.