Magnetic Interparticle Interactions and Superparamagnetic Blocking of Powder Systems of Biogenic Ferrihydrite Nanoparticles

The magnetic-field dependence of the superparamagnetic-blocking temperature T_B of systems of antiferromagnetically ordered ferrihydrite nanoparticles has been investigated and analyzed. We studied two powder systems of nanoparticles: particles of “biogenic” ferrihydrite (with an average size of 2.7 nm), released as a result of vital functions of bacteria and coated with a thin organic shell, and particles of biogenic ferrihydrite subjected to low-temperature annealing, which cause an increase in the average particle size (to 3.8 nm) and burning out of the organic shell. The character of the temperature dependences of magnetization, measured after cooling in a weak field, as well as the shape of the obtained dependences T_B(H), demonstrate peculiar features, indicating the influence of magnetic interparticle interactions. A detailed analysis of the dependences T_B(H) within the random magnetic anisotropy model made it possible to estimate quantitatively the intensity of magnetic particle–particle interactions and determine the magnetic anisotropy constants of individual ferrihydrite particles.