One-pot synthesis of ferromagnetic FePd nanoparticles from single-source organometallic precursors and size effect of metal fraction in polymer chain

The accurate regulation of the size of the ferromagnetic nanoparticle synthesized from the one-pot pyrolysis of metallopolymer is a challenging topic to date. A bimetallic complex TPy-FePd-1 was prepared and used as a single-source precursor to synthesize ferromagnetic FePd nanoparticles (NPs) by one-pot pyrolysis. The resultant FePd NPs have a mean particle size of 19.8 nm and show a coercivity of 1.02 kOe. In addition, the labile ligand NCMe in TPy-FePd-1 was easily substituted by a pyridyl group. A random copolymer PS-P4VP was used to coordinate with TPy-FePd-1, and the as-synthesized metallopolymer made the metal fraction disperse evenly along the flexible chain. Investigation of FePd NPs from the bimetallic polymers with different metal fractions was also made, and the size of the resultant nanoparticles could be easily controlled by tuning the metal fraction in the polymer.