The role of magnetic interactions in exchange bias properties of MnFe2O4@γ-Fe2O3 core/shell nanoparticles

Abstract

Low-temperature magnetic properties of assemblies of 3.3 nm sized nanoparticles (NPs) based on a MnFe2O4 core protected by a maghemite shell are investigated. These NPs are obtained by a chemical core/shell method developed for the synthesis of the electrostatically stabilized ferrofluid colloidal dispersions that we probe here. They are model systems where the interparticle interaction is tuned by the NP volume fractions, ranging here between 0.4% and 13.9%. It has been shown that these NPs consist of a well-ordered ferrimagnetic core surrounded by a disordered spin glass-like surface layer and that they display uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. We compare the magnetic hysteresis loops of non-textured frozen dispersions (with magnetic anisotropy axis of NPs distributed at random) with those of a powder based on the same NPs. After cooling under field the hysteresis loops shift along the H axis, expressing the coupling between the spin-ordered cores and the disordered surface layers. The negative H-shift provides an evaluation for the exchange bias (EB) field. The EB field is optimum for a cooling field of the order of the anisotropy field. A comparison between frozen dispersions and disordered powder allows us to distinguish the influence of intra- and interparticle interactions on the EB. Interparticle collective effects dominate in the powder while an intraparticle EB, eventually hindered by dipolar interactions at large volume fraction, is observed in frozen dispersions.