The chemical coprecipitation process was used to synthesize about 7 nm, spherical magnetite nanoparticles to study magnetic properties and the aging effect. As-produced spherical magnetite nanoparticles have been aged in the atmosphere for 19 months. Magnetic properties and aging effect were studied by Mössbauer spectroscopy at a temperature ranging from 77 to 300 K, vibrating sample magnetometer, and x-ray diffraction. Saturation magnetization and coercivity were found to be 49 emu/g and nearly 0 Oe at room temperature, respectively. A singlet Mössbauer spectrum was observed at room temperature, implying superparamagnetic behavior of the particles, while a two-sextet spectrum was observed at 77 K. The particle size in this study is about 7 nm, which is smaller than the superparamagnetic size of 26 nm as calculated from Neel’s theory of single domain particles. After having aged these particles for 19 months, all magnetic properties and their original shapes were retained. Superparmagnetic magnetite nanoparticles synthesized in this study can be applied to microbead applications of a biosensor.

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In an attempt to synthesize nanosized (Li0.5xFe0.5xZn1−x)Fe2O4 (0⩽x⩽1) particles with high magnetic saturation and low coercivity, the energetic ball milling technique was employed. LiCO3, α-Fe2O3, and ZnO powders were used as starting materials. The ball milled, partially crystallized lithium zinc ferrite starts to crystallize at about 600 °C. This is much lower than the temperature of 1000 °C, which is used in conventional methods. Particle size of lithium zinc ferrite was in the range of 20 to 50 nm. Regardless of the annealing temperature, the saturation magnetization increases with increasing x and reaches the maximum (about 80 emu/g) at x=0.7 [(Li0.35Fe0.35Zn0.3)Fe2O4], followed by a decrease to 60 emu/g for x=1 [(Li0.5Fe0.5)Fe2O4]. On the other hand, the coercivity of x=0.7 composition decreases with increasing annealing temperatures. Saturation magnetization and low coercivity for x=0.7 annealed at various temperatures are discussed in terms of site occupation.

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