Lanthanide-based magnetic nanomaterials are of not only fundamental scientific interest but also diverse practical applications due to their unique chemical and physical properties. Envisioned applications include their uses as high-density magnetic recording materials, essential components in consumer electronic devices, and magnetic resonance contrast agents and imaging probes in biological systems. Our research aims to addressing two problems associated with the synthesis and property control of this unique class of nanomaterials, first being the lack of general synthetic methods and the second, the inability to control the size and morphology of such materials. Toward these goals, well-defined Ln/Fe (Ln = Sm, Eu, Tb) nanoparticles with narrow size distributions have been prepared by using a novel low temperature solution-phase synthetic approach. In this presentation, the synthesis, characterization, and magnetic property investigation of these materials will be discussed.

Figure 1. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of Sm/Fe nanoparticles.