Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2010, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (3): 348-351.

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Synthesis and Characteristics of Fe3C Nanoparticles Embedded in Amorphous Carbon Matrix

YANG Kai-yu1, XU Wei2, ZHANG Yu3, ZHENG Wei-tao3 and WANG Xin3*   

  1. 1. Center of Test Science;
    2. State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry;
    3. Key Laboratory of Automobile Materials, Ministry of Education, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, P. R. China
  • Received:2009-04-23 Revised:2009-12-20 Online:2010-05-25 Published:2010-07-27
  • Contact: WANG Xin. E-mail: wang_xin@jlu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:

    Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.50832001) and the Science and Technology Development Program of Jilin Province, China(No.20070501).

Abstract:

We proposed a new way to synthesize a nanocomposite consisted of cementite Fe3C nanoparticles and amorphous carbon by radio frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Transmission electron microscope images show the existence of nanometric dark grains(Fe3C) embedded in a light matrix(amorphous carbon) in the samples. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy experiment exhibit that the chemical bonding state in the films corresponded to sp3/sp2 amorphous carbon, sp3 C―N(287.3 eV) and C1s in Fe3C(283.5 eV). With increasing deposition time, the ratio of amorphous carbon increased. The magnetic measurements show that the value of in-plane coercivity increased with increasing carbon matrix concentration(from about 6.56×103 A/m for film without carbon structures to approximately 2.77×104 and 5.81×104 A/m for nanocomposite films at room temperature and 10 K, respectively). The values of saturation magnetization for the synthesized nanocomposites were lower than that of the bulk Fe3C(140 Am2/kg).

Key words: Fe3C nanoparticle; Amorphous carbon; Plasma enhancement chemical vapor deposition(PECVD); Magnetic property