Magnetization Distribution and Spin Disorder in Sequentially Grown Cobalt Ferrite Nanoparticles

The objective of this proposal is to investigate the magnetization distribution in spherical cobalt ferrite nanoparticles to disclose the impact of sequential particle growth on the surface-near and intraparticle spin disorder. Structural defects and the associated spin disorder have recently been suggested to be beneficial for biomedial applications such as in intracellular magnetic hyperthermia. The samples of this proposal were sequentally grown from 9 - 12 nm via thermal decomposition. We are particularly interested to clear up how the local spin disorder changes, e.g. when the surface of the initial seed nanoparticle becomes the interior of the grown particle. Depending on the outcome of our study, the sequential growth technique might be considered as a promising strategy to engineer nanoparticles with a tunable surface spin disorder thickness.