STUDIES ON MAGNETO-STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF Fe3O4 NANOPARTICLES:
EFFECT OF CONCENTRATION OF ALKALINE MEDIA
A.B. Salunkhe1, V.M. Khot2, S.I. Patil1*
1
Physics department, University of Pune, Pune-411007, India
Center for Interdisciplinary Research, D. Y. Patil university, Kolhapur-416006, India
*
Corresponding author’s e-mail: patil@physics.unipune.ac.in, Tel.: +91 20 25601420; Fax: +91 20 25691684
2
Abstract
We have synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles in air
atmosphere by co precipitation. The effect of concentration
and the reaction time on magneto-structural properties have
been studied in detail. The concentration of alkaline media
was varied from 3M to 7M. We observed that, the crystallinity
reduces and the particle size decreases as the concentration of
alkaline media increased. According to the magnetic
measurements, all samples are superparamagnetic at room
temperature showing a saturation magnetization up to 61.42
emu/g. Magnetic properties of iron oxide nanoparticles are
influenced by the effect of concentration of alkaline media.
Keywords: Iron oxide nanoparticles, magneto-structural
properties, aminated nanoparticles.
Introduction
In the last few decades, spinel-type
nanoparticles have been graining lot of interest in
nanoscience and nanotechnology because of their
outstanding properties as nanometer size, large surface
area to volume ratio, superparamagnetic behavior, and
high saturation magnetization. This emerging tool of
nanotechnology has been conquering new horizons in
numerous research fields such as biomedicine,
environmental remediation, catalysis, and high-density
magnetic storage. Each type of application requires
MFe2O4 nanoparticles with specific physicochemical
and magnetic properties that can be engineered during
the synthesis process.
Among the various synthesis methods, the coprecipitation route continues to be one of the preferred
choices for producing water-dispersible MNPs in high
yields, since it is cost-effective, less time-consuming,
and easily scalable for industrial applications. In context
of this, in the present work we report the synthesis of
superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles in high yields
through
a
modified
one-step
coprecipitation
methodology based on the use of a new generation of
bases to induce the MNP coprecipitation. The
diisopropanolamine
(DIPA)
were
used
as
coprecipitation agents instead of the traditional bases
reported in the literature.
Results and Discussion:
The crystallographic structure and phase purity
of Fe3O4 NPs were investigated by powder XRD. The
average crystallite sizes of the nanoparticles are
calculated from the most intense peak (311) using above
equation. The calculated crystallite size for all the
samples was below ~10nm. In the present investigation
the growth process is found in two stages, as the
concentration of the alkaline media DIPA increases
from 3M to 5M, there is initial increase in the crystallite
size from ~4.8 nm to ~7.8 nm. When further increase in
the concentration of DIPA to 7M leads to decrease in
crystallite size to ~1.3 nm. Magnetic properties of the
samples were measured with SQUID. From the size,
shape, and magnetic measurements, it was shown that
magnetic
nanoparticles
exhibit
well-defined
superparamagnetic behavior with different magnetic
saturations. It is found that desirable size and/or
magnetic saturation of Fe3O4 nanoparticles can be
achieved by choosing appropriate parameters.
Conclusion
The reported methodology provides a simple,
versatile, and cost-effective route for the high-yield
synthesis of Fe3O4 MNPs featuring improved magnetic
properties and small particle sizes.
Acknowledgment
Author ABS thank UGC, INDIA for the award
of Dr. D.S. Kothari post doctoral fellowship. Author
VMK acknowledges CSIR, India for award of SRF
(File: 09/1077/(0001)/2012/EMR-1).
References
[1] O. Veiseh, J. W. Gunn, M. Zhang, Adv. Drug
Delivery Rev. 2010, 62, 284.
[2] A. H. Lu, E. L. Salabas, F. Schüth, Angew. Chem.,
Int. Ed. 2007,46, 1222.
[3] U. Jeong, X. Teng, Y. Wang, H. Yang, Y. Xia, Adv.
Mater. 2007, 19, 33.
[4] D. Yoo, Lee, J. H. Shin, T. H. Cheon, J. Acc. Chem.
Res. 2011, 44, 863.
[5] M. Tajabadi and M. E. Khosroshahi, Inter. J. Chem.
Eng. Appl., 3, 2012, 3