Fe3O4 polyhedral nanoparticles with a high magnetization synthesized in mixed solvent ethylene glycol-water system

We report a solvothermal approach for the synthesis of high-magnetization Fe3O4 polyhedral nanoparticles in the ethylene glycol (EG)-H2O system. In this approach, ferric chloride (FeCl3.6H(2)O) is used as the iron source, and EG acts as both the solvent and reductant in the presence of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and dodecylamine (DDA). The presence of deionized water plays an important role in the control over the size of Fe3O4 particles. The Fe3O4 particles prepared are well dispersed with single-crystal-like features, showing superparamagnetism with a high saturation magnetization close to that of bulk Fe3O4 (92 emu g(-1)). The stability of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles in deionized water is also investigated.