Department of Physics and Astronomy: Publications and Other Research
Date of this Version
2013
Citation
Advanced Functional Materials 23 (2013)
Abstract
Single crystal SmCo5 nanoparticles with an average size of 3.5 nm are produced by cluster-beam deposition. When deposited without matrix, the nanoparticles showed a super-paramagnetic be-havior with a blocking temperature of 145 K. Dispersion of the SmCo5 nanoparticles in a carbon matrix results in an increase in both the coercivity and the blocking temperature. Room temperature coercivities as high as 12 kOe are obtained for the first time in mono-layers of SmCo5 nanoparticles dispersed in C matrix. δM plots show that the interactions in the samples are of exchange type, which can decrease the overall effective anisotropy and coercivity according to the random-anisotropy model. Coercivity is found to be inversely proportional to the packing density of the particles. SmCo5 nanoparticles with high coercivity are potential candidates for the next generation ultra-high-density magnetic recording media.