Extending the Pre-ordered Precursor Reduction strategy to L10 ternary alloys: the case of MnFePt

L10 nanostructured alloys continue to attract a great deal of attention due to their advanced physico-chemical properties arising from the peculiar arrangement of the atoms in the tetragonal unit cell. Efforts have been focused on synthesizing and optimizing L10 3d-5d binary alloys, with the incorporation of a third element to enhance the chemical order degree and/or modulate the physical properties. Among the family members, magnetic L10 MnFePt ternary alloys are of great relevance owing to the possibility to tune the magnetic properties to meet the requirements of many applications including data storage/processing, sensors, catalysis, and biomedicine. In this work, a direct, effective and sustainable strategy, called Pre-ordered Precursor Reduction (PPR), was exploited for the first time to synthesize highly-ordered L10 MnFePt ternary alloy nanoparticles by thermal decomposition in reductive atmosphere of MnxFe1-x(H2O)6PtCl6 crystal salts whose crystallographic structure resembles the specific atomic arrangement of the L10 phase. Despite the higher complexity with respect to the binary system, the peculiar atomic arrangement of the elements in the precursor crystalline salt allows a great control over the structural and magnetic properties. By modulating the process conditions and the initial chemical composition it is possible to finely tune the magnetic properties thus proving the high versatility and efficiency of the PPR approach to synthesize highly ordered L10 ternary alloys with controlled properties.