Controlled Synthesis of Monodisperse Magnetic Nanoparticles in Solution Phase

Magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) show interesting size/shape-dependent magnetism and magnetic transition from ferromagnetism to superparamagnetism. Such unique nanomagnetism has been studied extensively in the hope to optimize magnetic NPs for future magnetic data storage, energy storage and biomedicine applications. To achieve any of these application goals, the size, composition, shape and surface structure of these NPs must be first controlled so that their magnetic properties can be tuned for specific applications. Recent advances in synthetic methodology have led to the formation of various magnetic NPs with the desired dimension controls. This review focuses on solution phase based chemical syntheses of monodisperse magnetic NPs. It starts with a brief introduction of nanomagnetism and a general overview of colloid chemistry in the synthesis of monodisperse NPs. It further illustrates several typical examples on chemical syntheses of Fe, Co, FePt, CoFe and iron oxide NPs. The review concludes with the challenges and future perspective in magnetic NP synthesis and applications.