Magnetic domains and surface effects in hollow maghemite nanoparticles

In the present work, we investigate the magnetic properties of ferrimagnetic and noninteracting maghemite (gamma-Fe2O3) hollow nanoparticles obtained by the Kirkendall effect. From the experimental characterization of their magnetic behavior, we find that polycrystalline hollow maghemite nanoparticles exhibit low blocked-to-superparamagnetic transition temperatures, small magnetic moments, significant coercivities and irreversibility fields, and no magnetic saturation on external magnetic fields up to 5 T. These results are interpreted in terms of the microstructural parameters characterizing the maghemite shells by means of atomistic Monte Carlo simulations of an individual spherical shell. The model comprises strongly interacting crystallographic domains arranged in a spherical shell with random orientations and anisotropy axis. The Monte Carlo simulation allows discernment between the influence of the polycrystalline structure and its hollow geometry, while revealing the magnetic domain arrangement in the different temperature regimes.