Magnetism of the fcc Rh and Pd nanoparticles

Abstract

We produced the fcc Rh and Pd nanoparticles with average particle diameters of 3 and 4 nm, respectively, in solution. We observed hysteretic behaviors in M-H curves and estimated lower bound magnetic moments of 4.8×10−3 and (3.8×10−3)μB/atom from unsaturated M-H curves at an applied field of 5 T and at 5 K for Rh and Pd nanoparticles, respectively. This implies that both Rh and Pd nanoparticles are ferromagnetic. We attributed this ferromagnetism to the lattice expansions, especially along the (200) planes (i.e., the expansion of d200), as observed in the x-ray diffraction patterns.