Synthesis and characterization of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles via w/o microemulsion and Massart's procedure

Water in oil microemulsion system was used to prepare magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. Two different volumetric ratios of Fe2+ and OH-(1:1 and 2:1) were investigated. The as-synthesized magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles were characterized by XRD, TEM, TGA and AGM. The XRD, TEM and AGM results showed that crystallize, physical and magnetic sizes of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles were less than 10 nm which were within the superparamagnetic size range. The magnetization curve also showed no hysterisis loop at room temperature which indicated superparamagnetic behavior. Magnetic iron oxides nanoparticles were also prepared by Massart's procedure. The saturation magnetization of magnetic iron oxides nanoparticles prepared by w/o microemulsion system was higher while the crystallize size was smaller. This showed that magnetic iron oxides nanoparticles could be tailored by different preparation procedures. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.