Synthesis, structure and magnetic properties of Fe₃N nanoparticles

Iron nitride (Fe₃N) is a promising material with excellent magnetic properties, but the synthetic methods are difficult to operate in previous literatures. Here, we report a facile synthetic method using ferrous chloride tetrahydrate and ethanediamine as iron and nitrogen sources, followed by calcined at 540 °C for 1 h. The iron nitride with tunable morphology was obtained by changing the experimental conditions. More importantly, the magnetic performances have greatly been improved because of the tunable morphology. The coercivity can reach 408.84 Oe under the optimal conditions with superior retentivity and squareness, showing good ferromagnetic behaviors. This finding broadens our vision to realize the importance of morphology control and paves the way for other transition metal nitrides in obtaining tunable performances by controlling their morphologies.