Oxide-Free Gadolinium Nanocrystals with Large Magnetic Moments

Among the elements in the periodic table, gadolinium (Gd) has the highest number of unpaired electrons. However, the potential of this rare-earth metal has not yet been fully realized due to challenges in its chemical synthesis, namely, its high reduction potential, leading to the formation of oxides with suboptimal properties. This problem is also prevalent with other lanthanides, severely limiting their uses in industry. Herein, a fabrication approach along with a reduction process and appropriate capping have been developed to produce oxide-free, stable gadolinium nanoparticles. We demonstrate broad tunability of the particle size while maintaining remarkably narrow size distributions (