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Published on: February 20, 2016
Chemically induced permanent magnetism in Au, Ag, and Cu nanoparticles: localization of the magnetism by element
José S Garitaonandia1, Maite Insausti, Eider Goikolea
1Zientzia eta Teknologia Fakultatea. Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, 644pk. 48820 Bilbao, Spain. garita@we.lc.ehu.es
Abstract:
We report a direct observation of the intrinsic magnetization behavior of Au in thiol-capped gold nanoparticles with permanent magnetism at room temperature. Two element specific techniques have been used for this purpose: X-ray magnetic circular dichroism on the L edges of the Au and 197Au Mössbauer spectroscopy. Besides, we show that silver and copper nanoparticles synthesized by the same chemical procedure also present room-temperature permanent magnetism. The observed permanent magnetism at room temperature in Ag and Cu dodecanethiol-capped nanoparticles proves that the physical mechanisms associated to this magnetization process can be extended to more elements, opening the way to new and still not-discovered applications and to new possibilities to research basic questions of magnetism.
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