A facile method to synthesize carbon coated Fe, Co and Ni and an examination of their magnetic properties

In this work, we report a facile strategy to prepare carbon coated Fe, Co and Ni nanoparticles (denoted as Fe@C, Co@C, and Ni@C, respectively) by direct pyrolysis of bacterial cellulose (BC) adsorbing corresponding metal nitrates under an inert atmosphere. Their chemical structures and morphologies were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. The XRD characterization results reveal that the metallic species have been successfully loaded. SEM images reveal the surface morphologies of carbon micro spheres. The TEM observations show that the nanoparticles are encapsulated in carbon shells. Both of XRD and Raman spectroscopy indicate that the transition metals can accelerate the formation of graphitization of carbon. Additionally, the magnetic properties of Fe@C, Co@C and Ni@C nanoparticles were tested by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) at room temperature. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.