Magnetic alloys and multifunctional nanocomposites

Chemically ordered alloy nanoparticles attract significant interest for their exceptional magnetic properties and stability, making them promising for applications in energy, catalysis, data storage, sensors, biomedicine, and environmental remediation. They include 3d-5d magnetic (e.g., FePt, CoPt) and transition metal alloys (e.g., FeNi, CoNi), as well as tunable ternary alloys. Beyond their intrinsic functionalities, these alloys can also be integrated with materials exhibiting distinct chemical and physical properties, leading to the development of multifunctional composites.

The research activity at nM2-Lab is centered on the development of chemically ordered magnetic alloy nanoparticles through a patented non-conventional and efficient chemical synthesis route utilizing crystalline precursor salts, as well as the synthesis of multifunctional nanocomposites that integrate magnetic metal particles with non-magnetic materials (e.g., SBA15, CNTs, rGO, polymers, porous Si, etc.), with a recent focus on advancing sustainable alternatives free of critical elements.

MAIN STAFF: G. Varvaro , S. Laureti, P. Matloni, E. Patrizi, D. Peddis, A. Capobianchi*
*ISM - CNR|email: aldo.capobianchi@ism.cnr.it|Ph: +390690672554

Chemically ordered metal alloys

Chemically ordered magnetic binary alloys, consisting of an ordered arrangement of pure elements on alternating atomic planes, have attracted a special attention in the last few decades due to their peculiar physical properties and excellent chemical stability, which arise from the particular arrangement of the atoms that alternate in composition along the c-axis direction of the fct unit cell. At the nM2-Lab, a promising chemical synthesis method, called Preordered Precursor Reduction strategy, exploiting layered crystal salt precursors consisting of alternating planes of pure atoms, which mimic the structure of the alloy, was developed to synthesize highly ordered nanoparticles while reducing the ordering kinetic energy and consequently the processing temperature and/or the reaction time. The strategy was already successfully applied to the synthesis of high-ordered binary - FeNi, MPt (M = Fe, Co, Ni) - and ternary (MnxFe1-xPt) alloy nanoparticles under milder conditions than conventional thermal processes and other alloys are now under investigation.

Multifunctional nanocomposites

Nanocomposite materials consisting of two or more different phases have attracted a great deal of attention in the last years owing to the new physical properties and functionalities arising from the synergetic effect of the individual components. Special attention is devoted at the nM2-Lab to the development of multifunctional nanocomposites combining the peculiar properties of carbon-based materials (e.g. multi-wall carbon nanotubes, reduce graphene oxides) and magnetic nanoparticles (metals, oxides) for application in many fields, including catalysis and energy.

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