Evaluation of Differences between Fe₃O₄ Micro- and Nanoparticles Properties

Small sizes of nanoparticles lead to the appearance of new unique functional properties. Under transition to nanosizes in metals and their compounds new specific characteristics appears. In this work, the microstructural and magnetic properties of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄-NP) have been compared with those of commercially available Fe₃O₄ microparticles (Fe₃O₄-MP) and detailed analysis of differences has been carried out. The synthesis of Fe₃O₄-NP was carried out by means of colloidal method performed without the use of surfactants. Commercial and synthesized particles were characterized using NTEGRA Prima (NT-MDT) atomic force microscope. For magnetic properties investigations we used the method of vibrating sample magnetometer.