Synthesis of Bare Iron Nanoparticles from Ferrocene Hexane Solution by Femtosecond Laser Pulses.

Iron-based nanoparticles (FeNPs) have unique and attractive properties such as superparamagnetism, biocompatibility, and catalytic activity. Although the synthesis of precious metal NPs from a metal in liquid and/or metal salt solution by a pulsed laser has been investigated, comparably little effort has been devoted to examine the production of FeNPs. Here we report the synthesis of carbon-shell free spherical NPs of iron oxide (magnetite) from ferrocene hexane solution by femtosecond near infrared laser pulses.