Magnetic iron nanoparticles prepared by solution combustion synthesis and hydrogen reduction

A facile and efficient method has been proposed to prepare iron nanoparticles by combining solution combustion synthesis and hydrogen reduction for the first time. A porous alpha-Fe2O3 precursor with high specific surface area of 75 m(2)/g was fabricated by solution combustion synthesis, and then iron nanoparticles with high saturation magnetization of 196.3 emu/g were successfully obtained by hydrogen reduction of the as-synthesized precursor. With the reduction temperature rising from 275 degrees C to 600 degrees C, the saturation magnetization of the products increases from 196.3 emu/g to 209.7 emu/g, whilst the coercivity decreases from 611.4 Oe to 98.8 Oe. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.