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The effect of [Fe3+]/[Fe2+] molar ratio and iron salts concentration on the properties of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in the water/ethanol/toluene system

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Abstract

In this study, we developed a convenient one-pot method with sodium oleate as both the surfactant and precipitant to synthesize pure magnetite nanoparticles in the water/ethanol/toluene system. The initial molar ratio of [Fe3+]/[Fe2+] and the concentration of iron salts were changed in order to systematically investigate their influences on the chemical and physical properties of nanoparticles, such as the crystal structure, morphology, particle sizes, dispersion and magnetism. Samples were determined by XRD, XPS, FTIR, DLS, and VSM. The oleate coating steadily existed on the surface of the nanoparticles to profit them of excellent monodispersibility and stability in non-polar solvents with very narrow size distribution and extremely approximate mean diameters of ~7 nm. Particles consisted mainly of magnetite with a little or no maghemite phase with the molar ratio of [Fe3+]/[Fe2+] decreasing from 2:1 to 1:1, but they all exhibited superparamagnetism at room temperature. After the optimization, pure magnetite nanoparticles could be prepared with the saturation magnetization successfully increasing to 75 emu/g(Fe), when the molar ratio of [Fe3+]/[Fe2+] was 1.5:1 and the concentration of iron precursors was 95 mM.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank National Basic Research Program of China (National 973 program, No. 2011CB606206), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31070849, 50830105), the Department of Science and Technology of Sichuan Province (2009HH0001, 2009SZ0137) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (2010DFA51550).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, People’s Republic of China

    Wen Jiang, Kui-Lin Lai, Hao Hu, Xiao-Bo Zeng, Fang Lan, Ke-Xia Liu, Yao Wu & Zhong-Wei Gu

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  1. Wen Jiang
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  2. Kui-Lin Lai
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  3. Hao Hu
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  4. Xiao-Bo Zeng
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  5. Fang Lan
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  7. Yao Wu
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  8. Zhong-Wei Gu
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Correspondence to Yao Wu or Zhong-Wei Gu.

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Jiang, W., Lai, KL., Hu, H. et al. The effect of [Fe3+]/[Fe2+] molar ratio and iron salts concentration on the properties of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in the water/ethanol/toluene system. J Nanopart Res 13, 5135–5145 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-011-0495-8

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