A soft-template-assisted hydrothermal approach to single-crystal Fe3O4 nanorods

Uniform single-crystal Fe3O4 nanorods with an average diameter of 25 nm and length of 200 nm have been synthesized via a soft-template-assisted hydrothermal route at 120 °C for 20 h. The magnetic properties of as-prepared samples were recorded on a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) at room temperature. The hysteresis loop of Fe3O4 nanorods shows a ferromagnetic behavior with saturation magnetization of 71.3 emu/g and coercivity of 150 Oe. The formation of one-dimensional (1D) Fe3O4 nanostructures could be ascribed to ethylenediamine. It is revealed that ethylenediamine plays a crucial role not only as a base source but also as a soft template to form single-crystal Fe3O4 nanorods, and the benzene used in this study is important to prevent ferrous ion to be oxygenated by oxygen in air.