Synthesis and characterization of functionalized magnetic nanoparticles

Magnetic nanoparticles have been used in a wide array of industrial and biomedical applications due to their unique properties at the nanoscale level. They are extensively used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic hyperthermia treatment, drug delivery, and in assays for biological separations. Furthermore, superparamagnetic nanoparticles are of large interest for in vivo applications. However, these unmodified nanoparticles aggregate and consequently lose their superparamagnetic behaviors, due to high surface to volume ratio and strong dipole to dipole interaction. For these reasons, surface coating is necessary for the enhancement and effectiveness of magnetic nanoparticles to be used in various applications. In addition to providing increased stability to the nanoparticles in different solvents or media, stabilizers such as surfactants, organic/inorganic molecules, polymer and co-polymers are employed as surface coatings, which yield magnetically responsive systems. In this work we present the synthesis and magnetic characterization of Fe3O4 nanoparticles coated with 3-aminopropyltriethoxy silane (APS) and citric acid. The particles magnetic hysteresis was measured by a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer with an in-plane magnetic field. The uncoated and coated magnetic nanoparticles were characterized by using fourier transform infrared (FTIR), UV-vis, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and thermo-gravimetric analysis.