Electrospray deposition of isolated chemically synthesized magnetic nanoparticles

The deposition of isolated magnetic nanoparticles onto a substrate was performed using electrohydrodynamic spraying. Two kinds of nanoparticles were sprayed, 11 nm CoFe carbide nanospheres and 10.5 nm Fe nanocubes. By studying carefully the evolution of the sprayed charged droplets and the mechanism of nanoparticle dispersion in them, we could optimize the nanoparticle concentration within the initial nanoparticle solution (i) to reduce the magnetic interaction and therefore prevent agglomeration and (ii) to obtain in a relatively short period (1 h) a deposit of isolated magnetic nanoparticles with a density of up to 400 nanoparticles per µm 2 . These results open great perspectives for magnetic measurements on single objects using advanced magnetometry techniques as long as spintronics applications based on single chemically synthesized magnetic nanoparticles.