Synthesis and aging effect of spherical magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles for biosensor applications

The chemical coprecipitation process was used to synthesize about 7 nm, spherical magnetite nanoparticles to study magnetic properties and the aging effect. As-produced spherical magnetite nanoparticles have been aged in the atmosphere for 19 months. Magnetic properties and aging effect were studied by Mossbauer spectroscopy at a temperature ranging from 77 to 300 K, vibrating sample magnetometer, and x-ray diffraction. Saturation magnetization and coercivity were found to be 49 emu/g and nearly 0 Oe at room temperature, respectively. A singlet Mossbauer spectrum was observed at room temperature, implying superparamagnetic behavior of the particles, while a two-sextet spectrum was observed at 77 K. The particle size in this study is about 7 nm, which is smaller than the superparamagnetic size of 26 nm as calculated from Neel's theory of single domain particles. After having aged these particles for 19 months, all magnetic properties and their original shapes were retained. Superparmagnetic magnetite nanoparticles synthesized in this study can be applied to microbead applications of a biosensor. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.