Challenging the frontiers of superparamagnetism through strain engineering: DFT investigation and co-precipitation synthesis of large aggregated Fe3O4 (magnetite) powder

Mert Saraçoğlu, Mubashir Mansoor, Utku Bakırdöven, Handenur Arpalı, Utku Orçun Gezici, Servet Timur*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Superparamagnetic magnetite (Fe3O4) has potential biomedical applications, but its synthesis can be challenging and costly. We present a simple and facile method for synthesizing superparamagnetic magnetite via the co-precipitation method. The pH and stabilizer concentration were optimized to obtain high purity Fe3O4 nanoparticles with superparamagnetic characteristics, despite having an aggregated morphology. The results showed that the synthesized particles were micrometer-sized, and exhibited superparamagnetic behavior with a value of 40 emu/g. The conventional wisdom on superparamagnetic behavior is to attribute the phenomenon to the presence of nanosized crystallites and nanoparticles in the aggregated structure, however, our computational analysis through density functional theory shows that strain-related effects are an underlying cause for the paramagnetism of magnetite as well, which explains our experimental observations. Overall, the co-precipitation method presented in this study offers an easy, non-toxic, and fast method for synthesizing Fe3O4 nanoparticles, which is suitable for industrial-scale production.

Original languageEnglish
Article number171895
JournalJournal of Alloys and Compounds
Volume968
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Dec 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023

Funding

This work was supported by Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey ( TÜBİTAK ) 2209-a program, (project no: 1919B012000495 ) and NANOSILVER Kimya Sanayii Ticaret A.Ş. (Chemical Commerce & Industry Co.). Our sincere gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Seda Aksoy Esinoğlu from ITU Advanced Materials Research Laboratory for VSM measurements. Sevgin Türkeli for X-ray diffraction measurements. Dr. Yonca Alkan Göksü for FT-IR measurements. We also would like to thanks National Center for High Performance Computing of Turkey (UHeM) for supercomputer support, under grant no: 4014152022 . This work was supported by Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) 2209-a program, (project no: 1919B012000495) and NANOSILVER Kimya Sanayii Ticaret A.Ş. (Chemical Commerce & Industry Co.). Our sincere gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Seda Aksoy Esinoğlu from ITU Advanced Materials Research Laboratory for VSM measurements. Sevgin Türkeli for X-ray diffraction measurements. Dr. Yonca Alkan Göksü for FT-IR measurements. We also would like to thanks National Center for High Performance Computing of Turkey (UHeM) for supercomputer support, under grant no: 4014152022.

FundersFunder number
National Center for High Performance Computing of Turkey
International Technological University
Ulusal Yüksek Başarımlı Hesaplama Merkezi, Istanbul Teknik Üniversitesi4014152022
Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu1919B012000495

    Keywords

    • Aggregation
    • Co-precipitation
    • Dynamic Functional Theory
    • Nano-structures
    • Superparamagnetism

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Challenging the frontiers of superparamagnetism through strain engineering: DFT investigation and co-precipitation synthesis of large aggregated Fe3O4 (magnetite) powder'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this