Graphical Abstract
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Nickel based magnetic nanocrystals have been widely applied in magnetic and catalytic facilities. Tunable magnetic properties of nickel can be easily obtained via non-magnetic doping or phase transformation. However, phase transformation from face centered cubic (fcc) to hexagonal close packed (hcp) induced magnetism adjustment of Ni are always confused with nickel carbide (Ni3C), due to the similar atomic structures of hcp-Ni and Ni3C. Here, we present series of Au@Ni-carbide magnetic materials achieved from the controlled carbonation of Au@Ni core–shell structures, whose magnetism is tunable by adjusting the amount of carbon in the Ni layer. Ex-situ hard X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at the metal K edge and soft XAS at both metal L edge and carbon K edge provide solid evidence for the carbonation process from fcc-Ni to NixC, rather than phase transformation to hcp-Ni. Further investigation reveals that the magnetism of the hybrids is mainly contributed from the residual fcc-Ni. The result represents an accurate and effective way to distinguish hexagonal Ni3C from hcp-Ni, and provides the pathway to control magnetism of Ni-based materials for applications.
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