Magnetic Properties of Ubiquitous yet Underrated Antiferromagnetic Nanoparticles
Abstract
Ferrihydrite, lepidocrocite and goethite are antiferromagnetic, weakly "ferromagnetic" iron oxyhydroxides that are commonly found in diverse environments, including ground waters and streams, sediments, soils, or acid mine drainage. One of them, ferrihydrite, constitutes the mineral core of ferritin, a vital iron storage protein. Iron oxyhydroxides take part in multiple biological and abiological processes, and can evolve, under changing environmental or geological conditions, to more magnetic phases such as hematite, maghemite, or magnetite. Therefore, they represent key minerals with regard to paleoclimate, paleoenvironmental, and paleomagnetic studies. We will present low temperature magnetic properties acquired on fully characterized synthetic iron oxyhydroxides. The complex nature of the magnetism of these minerals is revealed by comparing magnetic data with other types of characterizations such as high-resolution transmission electron microscopy or synchrotron X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), or when the early-stages of solid-state alteration (under oxidizing or reducing atmosphere) are studied. In particular, we will present resent results about the structure of 6-line ferrihydrite, about the possible presence of ferri-magnetic nano-clusters in lepidocrocite, and about uncompensated magnetic moments in goethite nanoparticles.
- Publication:
-
AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- May 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUSMGP52B..01G
- Keywords:
-
- 1540 GEOMAGNETISM AND PALEOMAGNETISM / Rock and mineral magnetism