Carbon nanotube template-assisted synthesis of zinc ferrite nanochains

We synthesized zinc ferrite nanochains, assembled from nanoparticles, using a carbon nanotubes (CNTs) template method. The resulting nanochains were systematically characterized with respect to crystal structure, morphology, elemental composition, magnetic properties and specific surface area by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry, and the N2 adsorption method. The morphology results showed that the zinc ferrite particles with diameters of 10-20 nm were structurally linked to form nanochains. The magnetic property investigation indicated that the zinc ferrite nanochains exhibited ferromagnetic behavior and possessed a saturation magnetization of 45.4 emu g-1 at 300 K. We addressed the growth mechanism by analyzing the experimental conditions and characterization results. This method may be applicable to synthesizing other metal oxide nanochains as well.