Document Type

Thesis

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Bachelor of Science in Chemistry

Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

Thesis advisor: David Carnevale, Ph.D.

Abstract

Magnetic, semiconductor, and spintronic materials are vital to the functionality of devices from household appliances and sensors to medical and computing systems. This study discusses a novel synthesis and characterization of nanoscale Fe₂PtGe nanoparticles. The material was synthesized using microwave irradiation (175oC, 5 minutes) and characterized using XRD, XRF, TEM, and VSM. XRD of the synthesized particles correlates to a cubic crystal structured, indicating a face-centered cubic (fcc) platinum structure with iron and germanium incorporated in a disordered manner. XRF confirms the presence and relative ratios of iron, platinum, and germanium species. TEM imagery shows spherical nanoparticles with an average diameter of 3.7 ± 0.7 nm, with 62% of the material exhibiting Janus particle (fusing) characteristics. The Janus particles primarily form as dimers, with an average length of 7.3 ± 3 nm, as well as trimers and pentameters. VSM data shows weak (8 emu/g), hard (0.17 T) magnetic behavior, below the blocking temperature, which is found to occur at approximately 22 K. Annealed Fe2PtGe exhibited room temperature magnetism due to the increase in particle size seen in the XRD pattern, however VSM data is still required for characterization.

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