Magnetic properties and special morphology of barium ferrite via electrospinning

Barium ferrite micro-/nanofibers with special morphology, nanowires with diameters of 100 nm, nanoribbons with diameters of 1 μm, and nanotubes with outer diameter of about 300 nm while inner diameter of 100 nm were successfully prepared via electrospinning using different solvents (dimethyl formamide (DMF), solutions of deionized water and ethyl alcohol, and solutions of deionized water and acetic acid, respectively). The barium ferrite micro-/nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and vibration sample magnetometer (VSM). The results demonstrate that the pure BaFe₁₂O₁₉ ferrite phase is successfully formed. And the SEM results show excellent morphologies. The magnetic hysteresis loops demonstrate that their magnetic properties are quite different with different morphologies. The specific saturation magnetization is approximately the same (46.12–49.17 A·m²·kg⁻¹), but the coercivity of the BaFe₁₂O₁₉ increases from wires (190.08 kA·m⁻¹), ribbons (224.16 kA·m⁻¹) to tubes (258.88 kA·m⁻¹).