Chemical synthesis of nanostructured cobalt at elevated temperatures

Chemical synthesis is a versatile technique for fabricating novel nanostructured materials. In the Rieke process, a metal salt is reduced by an alkali in a hydrocarbon solvent to form small, highly reactive particles. Synthesis at an elevated temperature (200/spl deg/C) increases the as-synthesized particle size and produces higher coercivities and remanence ratios than observed in similar syntheses at room temperature. The ratio of synthesis temperature to solvent boiling point appears to be an important parameter in both coercivity and oxidation resistance.