Controlled synthesis and magnetic properties of bimagnetic spinel ferrite CoFe2O4 and MnFe2O4 nanocrystals with core-shell architecture.

A combination of hard phase CoFe(2)O(4) and soft phase MnFe(2)O(4) as the bimagnetic nanocrystals in a core-shell architecture has been synthesized, and their magnetic properties have been systematically studied. Both HRTEM and EDS results confirmed the formation of bimagnetic core-shell structured nanocrystals. On the basis of the systematic and comparative studies of the magnetic properties of a mechanical mixture of pure CoFe(2)O(4) and MnFe(2)O(4) nanocrystals, chemically mixed Co(1-x)Mn(x)Fe(2)O(4) nanocrystals, and bimagnetic core-shell CoFe(2)O(4)@MnFe(2)O(4) and MnFe(2)O(4)@CoFe(2)O(4) nanocrystals, the bimagnetic core-shell nanocrystals show very unique magnetic properties, such as the blocking temperature and coercivity. Our results show that the coercivity correlates with the volume fraction of the soft phase as the theoretical hard-soft phase model has suggested. Furthermore, switching the hard phase CoFe(2)O(4) from the core to the shell shows great changes in the coercivity of the nanocrystals. The bimagnetic core-shell nanocrystals evidently demonstrate the rational design capability to separately control the blocking temperature and the coercivity in magnetic nanocrystals by varying the materials, their combination, and the volume ratio between the core and the shell and by switching hard or soft phase materials between the core and shell. Such controls via a bimagnetic core-shell architecture are highly desirable for magnetic nanocrystals in various applications.