Synthesis and Characterization of Mesoporous Magnetite Based Nanoparticles

Mesoporous, magnetite based nanoparticles (MNPs) were successfully synthesized by a modified precipitation method. For this purpose, the precursors' solution was sprayed into a sodium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide/citrate precipitation bath. In order to determinate the structure and morphology of the as-synthesized mesoporous MNPs the following methods were used: X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), infrared spectra (IR), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) coupled with selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis revealed a mesoporous structure of the samples which has a specific surface area of about 160m2/g (unstabilized Fe3O4 nanoparticles) and 247 - 257 m2/g (for the stabilized Fe3O4 nanoparticles). The average pore size of the MNPs is 2 – 5nm which means that mesoporous materials were obtained.