Facile synthesis of superparamagnetic Fe-doped ZnO nanoparticles in liquid polyols

A facile polyol process was established to prepare superparamagnetic Fe-doped ZnO nanoparticles in a liquid polyol using Fe(acac)₃ and Zn(acac)₂ as precursors and triethylene glycol as the solvent. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed that as-prepared nanoparticles are uniform in size. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed that the nanoparticles are of wurtzite structure without an impure phase. The successful doping of the Fe element into the ZnO host was evident by XRD lines shifting and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) results. Magnetization measurements demonstrated that the Fe-doped ZnO nanoparticles were superparamagnetic at room temperature.