Magnetic Characterization and Blocking Temperature of Fe₃O₄ NanoparticlesBryce Iverson, Karine ChesnelDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, Utah, USA

Magnetite (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles (NPs) are becoming an increasingly useful tool in many applications, from nanotechnologies to the medical field. However, one of the most interesting characteristics of these NPs, their superparamagnetic behavior, requires more data and research, in order to establish the blocking temperature below which the nanoparticles are magnetically blocked. We are investigating how the different sizes of clusters of Fe₃O₄ NPs change their respective blocking temperature. In order to research this, we are using Vibrating Sample Magnetometry to measure the magnetic moment of the nanoparticles while field cooling and observing the superparamagnetic transition. From there we use a couple different analytical methods to find proper estimates of the blocking temperatures, which we then use to find a relationship between the blocking temperature and size of the nanoparticles.