Controllable preparation of ternary superparamagnetic nanoparticles dual-doped with Mn and Zn elements.

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) with high saturation magnetization are successfully synthesized via thermal decomposition method by doping Mn and Zn elements simultaneously. The synthesis procedure was modified according to the thermal stabilities of the precursors, in order to ensure that the stoichiometry of the synthesized samples can be retained exactly from the starting ratios of the Fe/Mn/Zn in the initial precursors. As a result, the saturation magnetization of the dual-doped nanoparticles increased about 23% compared to that without the dopants. The superparamagnetic nanoparticles had narrow size distribution and the average diameter was about 8 nm. XRD and HRTEM analyses also indicated that the materials had a cubic spinel structure.