The effect of temperature on the synthesis of magnetite nanoparticles by the coprecipitation method

Frederico Vieira Gutierrez; Iara Souza Lima; Anna De Falco; Beatriz Marques Ereias; Oswaldo Baffa; Caique Diego de Abreu Lima; Lanna Isabely Morais Sinimbu; Patricia de la Presa; Cleanio Luz-Lima; Jefferson Ferraz Damasceno Felix Araujo

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e25781

The effect of temperature on the synthesis of magnetite nanoparticles by the coprecipitation method

Heliyon. 2024 Feb 14;10(4):e25781. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e25781. eCollection 2024 Feb 29.

Affiliations

¹ Physics Department, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rua Marques de São Vicente, 22451-900, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
² Physics Department, FFCLRP, University of São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes 3900, Ribeirão Preto, 14040-91, SP, Brazil.
³ Chemistry Department, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rua Marques de São Vicente, 22451-900, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
⁴ Institute of Applied Magnetism, UCM-ADIF-CSIC, A6 22,500km, 28230, Las Rozas, Spain.
⁵ Material Physics Department, UCM, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040, Madrid, Spain.
⁶ Physics Department, Federal University of Piauí, 64.049-550, Teresina, PI, Brazil.

Abstract

Magnetic nanoparticles, such as magnetite (Fe₃O₄), exhibit superparamagnetic properties below 15 nm at room temperature. They are being explored for medical applications, and the coprecipitation technique is preferred for cost-effective production. This study investigates the impact of synthesis temperature on the nanoparticles' physicochemical characteristics. Two types of magnetic analysis were conducted. Samples T 40, T 50, and T 60 displayed superparamagnetic behavior, as evidenced by the magnetization curves. The experiments verified the development of magnetic nanoparticles with an average diameter of approximately dozens of nanometers, as determined by various measurement methods such as XDR, Raman, and TEM. Raman spectroscopy showed the characteristic bands of the magnetite phase at 319, 364, 499, and 680 cm^-1. This was confirmed in the second analysis with the ZFC-FC curves, which showed that the samples' blocking temperatures were below ambient temperature. ZFC-FC curves revealed a similar magnetization of about 30 emu/g when applying a magnetic field of 5 kOe.

Keywords: Coprecipitation; Fe3O4; Magnetic nanoparticles; Magnetite; Superparamagnetic.