(2008-09-25) Thompson, G. B.; Srivastava, Chandan; Nikles, David E.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
A series of FePt nanoparticles was synthesized by the thermal decomposition of iron pentacarbonyl
and reduction in platinum acetylacetonate in phenyl ether solvent. A range of precursor molar ratios
of 2, 1.5, and 1 between iron pentacarbonyl and platinum acetylacetonate was studied. After 30 min
of reflux, the synthesis method produced a wide distribution in composition and size for the
nanoparticles. Given 200 min of reflux, it was observed that the particle-to-particle composition and
size narrowed, and the atomic ratio of Fe to Pt, for the majority of nanoparticles, approached the
initial precursor molar ratios except for the molar ratio of 1. It is speculated that the compositional
variability may be a result of the slow kinetics of iron pentacarbonyl’s decomposition in the
reaction.