Low temperature synthesis of magnetic metal nanomaterials by using calcium hydride

Abstract

A variety of magnetic metal nanomaterials have been successfully prepared at extremely low temperatures by using CaH2, which has recently received much attention in the field of solid state chemistry due to its ability to act as a very strong solid reductant. An advantage in using CaH2 as the reductant instead of H2, which is the conventional and most widely used reductant, is that the reaction temperatures can be lowered by several hundred degrees Celsius. This drastic decrease in the reaction temperatures enables the structures of the nanomaterials to be precisely controlled and the development of new functionalization techniques. Our recent results are briefly summarized here: SiO2-coated a-Fe nanoparticles, biocompatible á-Fe nanoparticles and carbon allotropes-coated a-Fe and Ni nanoparticles.