Magnetic Properties of Nano-Sized CuNi Clusters

We have studied the magnetic properties of the CuNi nanoparticles for three different sizes prepared by plasma and chemical techniques. The magnetization is enormously enhanced with decreasing the nanoparticle size. This enhanced magnetic moment shows almost inversely linear temperature dependence, which could be interpreted by the Langevin-type superparamagnetism. The field dependence exhibits ferromagnetic-like behavior with weak hysteresis, which could described in terms of uncompensated spin and/or surface anisotropy. In addition, the magnetic data suggest that the CuNi nanoparticles produced by the plasma method result in significantly less oxidized metallic nanoparticles than those prepared by other techniques.