Appearance of Magnetic Moments in Hyperfine Particles of Vanadium Metal

Abstract

Hyperfine particles (100 to 1000 Å) of vanadium were prepared by the evaporation method and the magnetic susceptibility of these fine particles was measured in the temperature range between 1.6 to 300 K. The magnetic susceptibility of these fine particles was found to consist of two parts, one was the Pauli type which was also observed in the bulk state of the metal and the other was the Curie-Weiss type overlapping the temperature independent one. The C-W component of the susceptibility increases with the decrease of particle size as the inverse of average diameter, suggesting that the magnetic moment which revealed the Curie-Weiss type susceptibility originates from the surface region of the particle. Localization of 3d-electron at the surface of particle is a probable origin of the magnetic moment.