Preparation and characterization of Fe3O4 nanoparticles via a hydrothermal process with propanediol as the solvent

Abstract

Fe _3 O _4 nanomaterials have received great attention in various technology fields. However, the limitations are Fe _3 O _4 is easy to agglomerate and obtaining Fe _3 O _4 nanoparticles of tunable magnetism and controllable size, and well-dispersed ability remains a challenge. In this study, a simple hydrothermal process with propanediol as the solvent was used to prepare Fe _3 O _4 nanoparticles. In the optimization of preparation conditions, three key factors (hydrothermal temperature, hydrothermal time, and solvent volume) were optimized by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The results showed that the magnetism and the phase content of the prepared Fe _3 O _4 were controllable during the optimization process. The optimum hydrothermal temperature was 170 °C, hydrothermal time was 18 h and solvent volume was 40 ml. The elemental composition, surface morphology, and magnetic properties of Fe _3 O _4 nanoparticles were characterized. The prepared Fe _3 O _4 nanoparticles exhibited superparamagnetic properties and high crystallinity, with an average particle size of 20 nm, a specific surface area of 84.756 m ^2 g ^−1 , a pore volume of 0.265 cm ^3 g ^−1 , and saturation magnetization (Ms) of 129.38 emu g ^−1 .

Keywords

• Fe3O4 nanoparticles
• hydrothermal process
• magnetic nanoparticles
• tunable magnetism