Polymer- Stabilized Co nanocrystals

Polymer-coated cobalt nanocrystals were prepared in a polar solvent at high temperature through an organometallic thermal-decomposition route in the presence of poly (N-viny-2-pyrrolidone) as a protective polymer. The as-synthesized PVP-coated cobalt nanocrystals were 20 to 80 nm cubic/hexagonal shapes. HCP was further determined as a main phase in these samples. For comparison purposes, we have also prepared PVP-cobalt nanocrystals using the seed-mediated thermal decomposition method. It revealed that PVP plays a significant role in the synthesis of cubic-structured cobalt nanocrystals. It was also noted that the formation of Co nanocrystals and their magnetic properties were dependent not only on the PVP component but also in the synthetic route. The saturation magnetization (Ms) determined from the seed-mediated sample is lower than that of the conventional sample. The coercivity of the former (610 Oe at 5 K), however, is double that of latter (300 Oe at 5 K), indicating that coercivity strongly depends on the crystallinity of the cobalt.