Fabrication and characterization of hollow Fe3O4 nanospheres in a microemulsion

Hollow sphere-like Fe3O4 (magnetite) with diameters of between 200-400 nm were synthesized in a reverse microemulsions. The particles were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The possible formation mechanism of hollow sphere-like magnetite is discussed. Also, the magnetic properties of the samples were characterized on a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.