Controllable synthesis of magnetic Fe3O4 particles with different morphology by one-step hydrothermal route

Well-defined Fe3O4 particles were successfully fabricated by a facile triethanolamine (TEA)-assisted method under mild hydrothermal conditions. Hydrated ferric salt was employed as the single iron precursor. TEA was used as the complexing agent and/or alkaline source. The crystalline phases of the as-obtained samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Furthermore, the morphology as well as the compositions of the samples were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS). The results indicated that the products were Fe3O4 crystal phase, and the morphology and powder size of the particles were varied with adding different amount of NaOAc and keeping the content of TEA unchanged. On the basis of these results, the possible formation mechanism of Fe3O4 was discussed. It was observed that TEA and NaOAc affected the growth rate of crystal planes and nucleation. Besides, the magnetic property tested by a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) showed that the products exhibited a ferromagnetic behavior and possessed the excellent saturation magnetization (Ms) at room temperature.