Preparation and characterization of magnetic γ-Al2O3 ceramic nanocomposite particles with variable Fe3O4 content and modification with epoxide functional polymer

Porous gamma-alumina (gamma-Al2O3) is one of widely used ceramic materials. To maximize the application potentials attempt was made to prepare multifunctional gamma-Al2O3 ceramic composite particles following magnetization and then seeded polymerization with epoxide functional glycidyl methacrylate (GMA). gamma-Al2O3 particles were first prepared by a modified sol-gel approach and then doped with variable content Fe3O4 nanoparticles. At higher Fe3O4 content the magnetite nanoparticles were oriented into needle like hairy structure basically grown from the surface of gamma-Al2O3 particles. Before the seeded polymerization the magnetic gamma-Al2O3 particles were modified with SiO2 layer to improve the compatibility with the PGMA layer. The produced multifunctional ceramic particles were named as gamma-Al2O3/Fe3O4/SiO2/PGMA nanocomposite because one of the phases constituting Fe3O4 was in nano-size range. The produced nanocomposite particles possessed superparamagnetic properties and could be isolated from the dispersion medium by external magnetic field. Fourier Transform IR (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) data revealed that final nanocomposite particles contained reactive epoxide groups on or near the surface. The produced multifunctional gamma-Al2O3 ceramic nanocomposite particles can be useful in biotechnology, catalysis and adsorbents for pollutant removal.