Synthesis of FeCo nanoparticles from FeO(OH) and Co3O 4 using oleic acid as reduction agent

Abstract

A facile chemical process has been developed for the preparation of magnetic FeCo nanoparticles. The FeCo nanoparticles were mono-dispersed, obtained by the safe and ecofriendly method, possessed saturation magnetization up to 187 emu/g, and demonstrated excellent chemical stability. In this work, we have studied how to control Fe/Co ratio by variation of precursor ratio, and how to vary particle size from 9.3 to 12.3 nm by surfactant amount used. The cytotoxicity of as-synthesized nanoparticles was investigated after coating with the poly(methyl methacrylate-co-butyl acrylate) by the emulsion process and the results demonstrated high biocompatibility. Similarly, the same synthesis method was used with the single precursor FeO(OH) or Co3O 4. The results showed that this method can also fabricate 10 nm mono-dispersed spherical Fe3O4 particles and self-assembly Co nanoneedles. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media.