Accelerated one-pot synthesis of coated magnetic nanoparticles from iron(ii) as a single precursor
Abstract
In spite of the progress in synthetic methods to obtain nanoparticles, particularly magnetite either uncoated or coated, the implementation of easier, faster and reproducible protocols to obtain well-defined nanoparticles is still a challenge. In this work we present a one-pot approach to synthesize Fe3O4 nanoparticles uncoated and coated with dodecylamine (DDA), starting from a single iron precursor (FeCl2) and incorporating a non-conventional stirring regime into the procedure. The products were characterized by XRD, TEM, TGA, FT-IR and Mössbauer spectroscopy, confirming the obtaining of the target materials. The magnetic measurements showed that the coated nanoparticles (Fe3O4@DDA) exhibited a higher saturation magnetization (Ms) and smaller coercivity (Hc) than the uncoated ones. The compromise between the saturation magnetization displayed by Fe3O4@DDA nanoparticles and the ease of its synthesis shows the potential of the method to obtain materials applicable to medical therapies.