Single-crystalline Fe3O4 nanosheets: Facile sonochemical synthesis, evaluation and magnetic properties

Fe3O4 nanosheets were successfully synthesized via a facile sonochemical route by direct ultrsound treatment of the mixture solution of FeSO4, NaOAc, and NaOH in the air. The results of X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectra (IR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that a purity phase of Fe3O4 was obtained after sonochemical reaction. And results from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicated that the as-prepared Fe3O4 nanosheets display single-crystalline structure with a lateral size altering from 50 to 120 nm and a thickness ranging from 10 to 20 nm, which was also confirmed by selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and HRTEM (high resolution TEM) analysis. In addition, magnetic measurements showed that the saturated magnetization of the obtained Fe3O4 nanosheets was ferromagnetic property at room temperature. It was found that the sonochemical process played a key role in the formation of Fe3O4 nanosheets and a possible growth mechanism was also discussed. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.