Magnetic properties and size effects of Fe, Co, Ni nanoparticles and FePt, CoPt, NiPt nanoalloys

Using density functional theory, we determine the magnetic properties and the size effects of iron, cobalt and nickel nanoparticles and their alloys with platinum. Some weak oscillations of the spin magnetic moment are found due to the relaxation acting on the distances between the shells of the nanoparticles. The magnetic moment of the pristine nanoparticles depends mainly on the coordination. In the nanoalloys, due to a localization resulting from the variation of the atomic potential by assembling two different species, the magnetic moment of the nanoalloys is less dependent on the coordination and is more uniformly distributed at the surface.