Magnetic properties of multi-walled carbon nanotubes encapsulated Fe/Co particles

The experimental apparatus by self-designed was used,Fe/Co particles encapsulated in multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs) were prepared by the method of anodic arc discharging plasma. The products were characterized by transmission election microscopy,Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffractometry. The magnetic properties of the products were characterized with vibration sample magnetometer. The TEM results show that MWCNTs have little impurity and good particles size,and Fe/Co with high continuity encapsulaties in carbon nanotubes. The saturated magnetization(σs),remanence(σm) and coercivity(Hc) of the sample are 17.30 A/(m·kg),3.96 A/(m·kg) and 31 521.60 A/m,showing better ferromagnetism compared with the bulk Fe/Co. The optimal conditions in this case are as follows:a helium gas atmosphere of 6.0×104 Pa,an arc current of 70 A,a voltage drop of 24 V,a constant distance of about 2 mm between the anodes and cathode,metallic powder contents of Fe and Co of 15.0%(mass fraction) and 15.0%,respectively,and well cooled electrodes and collector. This process is a convenient and effective that Fe/Co particles can be encapsulated in MWCNTs.

Synthesis of intracellular cobalt ferrite nanocrystals by extreme acidophilic archaea Ferroplasma thermophilum

Ferroplasma thermophilum,a sort of extreme acidophilic archaea,which can synthesize intracellular cobalt ferrite nanocrystals,is investigated in this study.The nanocrystals were analyzed with ultrathin sections and transmission electron microscope,with the size of 20−60 nm,the number of more than 30 in each cell at average,which indicated that F.thermophilum can synthesize intracellular nanocrystals and also belongs to high-yield nanocrystals-producing strain.Intriguingly,the nanocrystals contain ferrite and cobalt characterized by EDS X-ray analysis,suggesting that both cobalt and ferrite are potentially contributed to the formation of nanocrystals.Moreover,under the different energy source culture conditions of FeSO4 and CuFeS2,the size and the morphology of the nanocrystals are different.It was also found that the higher initial Fe availability leads to an induced synthesis of larger nanocrystals and the lower oxidation-reduction potential(ORP)leads to an induced effect on the synthesis of nanocrystals with abnormal unhomogeneous size,which suggested that the higher initial Fe availability and the lower oxidation-reduction potential lead to a higher uptake efficiency of iron ions of F.thermophilum by iron and ORP gradient culture.