A facile solvothermal synthesis of large-grain iron cubes and cuboids with enhanced performances

The cubic and cuboid pure iron particles with particle size ranging from 500 nm to 2 μm have been fabricated using a solvothermal method in ethanol solution. The controlled morphology and size distribution can be easily tuned by adjusting the reaction temperatures. The morphologies of the as-synthesized iron particles can be transformed from cubes to cuboids with the reaction temperature increasing from 100 to 150 °C. Uniform particles with narrow size distribution and good dispersion can be obtained under 120 °C. These chemically synthesized Fe particles exhibit good air stability and very slight surface oxidation. High saturation magnetization of 208-211 A m2/kg and very low coercivity of 19-26 Oe can be achieved in these micron-level iron particles due to their high purity and small shape anisotropy. The relatively simple preparation process with low cost, good air stability and high saturation magnetization for these large-grain pure iron particles promise their great potential applications in complicated shape and miniaturized Fe-based composite magnetic components.