Automatized and desktop AC-susceptometer for the in situ and real time monitoring of magnetic nanoparticles' synthesis by coprecipitation

M P Fernández-García; J M Teixeira; P Machado; M R F F Oliveira; J M Maia; C Pereira; A M Pereira; C Freire; J P Araujo

doi:10.1063/1.4918723

Automatized and desktop AC-susceptometer for the in situ and real time monitoring of magnetic nanoparticles' synthesis by coprecipitation

Rev Sci Instrum. 2015 Apr;86(4):043904. doi: 10.1063/1.4918723.

Authors

M P Fernández-García¹, J M Teixeira¹, P Machado¹, M R F F Oliveira², J M Maia¹, C Pereira³, A M Pereira¹, C Freire³, J P Araujo¹

Affiliations

¹ IFIMUP and IN-Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Departamento de Física e Astronomía, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
² Departamento de Ciência de Computadores, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
³ REQUIMTE/LAQV, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.

PMID: 25933868
DOI: 10.1063/1.4918723

Abstract

The main purpose of this work was to design, develop, and construct a simple desktop AC susceptometer to monitor in situ and in real time the coprecipitation synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles. The design incorporates one pair of identical pick-up sensing coils and one pair of Helmholtz coils. The picked up signal is detected by a lock-in SR850 amplifier that measures the in- and out-of-phase signals. The apparatus also includes a stirrer with 45°-angle blades to promote the fast homogenization of the reaction mixture. Our susceptometer has been successfully used to monitor the coprecipitation reaction for the synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles.