By studying the response
behavior of ferrofluids of 6–22
nm maghemite nanoparticles in glycerol solution exposed to external
magnetic fields, we demonstrate the ability of Mössbauer spectroscopy
to access a variety of particle dynamics and static magnetic particle
characteristics at the same time, offering an extensive characterization
of ferrofluids for in-field applications; field-dependent particle
alignment and particle mobility in terms of Brownian motion have been
extracted simultaneously from a series of Mössbauer spectra
for single-core particles as well as for particle agglomerates. Additionally,
information on Néel superspin relaxation and surface spin frustration
could be directly inferred from this analysis. Parameters regarding
Brownian particle dynamics, as well as Néel-type relaxation
behavior, obtained via Mössbauer spectroscopy, have been verified
by complementary AC-susceptometry experiments, modulating the AC-field
amplitude, and using an extended frequency range of 10–1 to 106 Hz, while field-dependent particle alignment has
been cross-checked via magnetometry.