Effect of distributed particle magnetic moments on the magnetization of NiO nanoparticles

Magnetization of NiO nanoparticles, at different temperatures, is measured and analyzed taking into account a distribution in particle magnetic moment. We find that disregarding this distribution in the analysis is the reason for the many anomalous observations reported on this system in the literature.

► Magnetic moments of NiO nanoparticles are estimated by analyzing magnetization data by many workers in literature.
► It is found to be about 2000μB.
► However, the expected value of the particle magnetic moment is about few hundred Bohr magnetons.
► We explain a method to estimate particle magnetic moment of NiO nanoparticles.