α″-Fe16N2 phase formation of plasma-synthesized core–shell type α-Fe nanoparticles under various conditions

• High yield of α″-Fe16N2 phase formation was prepared from core–shell α-Fe/Al2O3.
• Optimization of reduction process (temperature and processing time) was studied.
• Particle size (from 43 to 63 nm) impacted on improvement of iron nitride phase.
• Rate of nitridation depend on shell type (Al2O3 and SiO2) and thickness.
• Spherical nanoparticles with good magnetic performance were created.

Four kinds of plasma-synthesized core–shell type α-Fe nanoparticles with various particle diameters, input composition of shell’s raw materials, and shell compounds were used to investigate dependence of these nanoparticle parameters on nitridation and magnetic performance. Effects of hydrogen-gas reduction conditions (i.e., temperature and reduction time) prior to nitridation treatment were also investigated in detail. Experimental result showed that the nanoparticle parameters and the hydrogen reduction treatment influenced yield of α″-Fe16N2. Increases in particle diameter and shell amount resulted in the more difficulties in nitridation reaction because of the limitation in nitrogen diffusion phenomena. Changes in shell compound from Al2O3 to SiO2 resulted in the more difficulties in α″-Fe16N2 phase formation. We also found that modification of reduction conditions affect the final product quality. We obtained that by optimization the nanoparticle parameters and the reduction process, the formation of nanoparticles with high yield of α″-Fe16N2 (up to 99%) can be achieved. Finally, we found that for 43-nm core–shell Fe/Al2O3 magnetic nanoparticles containing 10 wt% of Al2O3, the combination of 1.5-h reduction at 300 °C and 10-h nitridation at 145 °C gave the highest yield of α″-Fe16N2. The best saturation magnetization of 190 emu/g was achieved when using the amount of Al2O3 of 20 wt%.

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