Electro-precipitation of Fe3O4 nanoparticles in ethanol

The preparation of superparamagnetic magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles by electro-precipitation in ethanol is proposed. Particle average size can be set from 4.4 to 9 nm with a standard deviation around 20%. Combination of wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and Mossbauer spectroscopy characterizations clearly identifies the particles as magnetite single-crystals (Fe3O4). (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.