Synthesis of NiFe2O4 Nanowires with NiO Nanosheet as Precursor via a Topochemical Solid State Method

Large scale NiFe₂O₄ nanowires were synthesized with NiO nanosheets as precursor by means of the topochemical solid state method. The morphologies and magnetic properties of NiFe₂O₄ annealed at different temperatures were studied. An appropriate annealing temperature was requested to transfer NiO nanosheets and Fe^- ions into NiFe₂O₄ nanowires. In the beginning stage of synthesizing process, the shape of NiO nanosheets remained unchanged at low temperatures. And then, NiO nanosheets split into nanowires from 400℃ to 600℃. At last they transformed into nanoparticles from 700℃ to 1000℃. Thus, the optimized annealing temperature was selected as 600℃ because the NiFe₂O₄ obtained at 600℃(N600) exhibited a maximum aspect ratio of 50 with a diameter of 20 nm and a length of 1 μm. Furthermore, N600 also displayed the largest magnetization value of 26.86 A·m²/kg and the lowest coercivity(H_c) of 8914 A/m.