If you are looking for an aqueous medium, it can be a real challenge, especially with iron nanoparticles. Solvothermal synthesis, however, works quite well for all of these, including possibilities to produce bimetallic particles. You can use as precursors either carbonyls, see Chem. Mater., 2009, 21, 3021-3026 and J. Phys. Chem. C, 2009, 113, 9497-9501, or acetylacetonates, Adv. in Nano Research, 2014, 2, 77-88, http://dx.doi.org/10.12989/anr.2014.2.2.077