Magnetic iron nitride nanodendrites

We report the synthesis of Fe₃N nanodendrites directly by reduction-nitriding of α-Fe₂O₃ nanopine dendrites in a mixed stream of H₂-NH₃. Fe₃N basically retains dendritic morphology of the starting material α-Fe ₂O_3. It is found that nanorod branches of Fe₃N dendrites have relatively uniform diameters and are evenly distributed at both sides of the stem with a periodicity of about 50 nm. The diameters of the nanorods are about 50 nm, and their lengths range from 50 to 1000 nm. Fe ₃N nanodendrites show a rapid saturation of magnetization of 104 emu/g at 300 K, as expected for a magnet.