High-saturation magnetization in small nanoparticles of Fe3O4 coated with natural oils

The enhancement of nanoparticle's magnetic properties with a suitable coating is the main tool to increase their potential as an effective candidate for applications in different areas, especially in biomedicine. In the work here reported, Fe3O4 nanoparticles coated with natural oils were synthesized by iron (III) acetylacetonate thermal decomposition and the effects of the coating on the magnetic properties of these particles have been investigated. The oils were extracted from three Amazon fruits seeds: acai, ucuuba, and bacaba by CO2 supercritical extraction process, and the relative percentage composition of fatty acids were determined by gas chromatography. A systematic study of crystalline, morphological, and magnetic properties revealed a saturation magnetization (Ms) enhancement and high values of the anisotropy constant for Fe3O4 samples when coated with acai and ucuuba oils, which present a large percentage of saturated total fatty acid. Our results indicate that nanoparticles with sizes smaller than around 5 nm present Ms values as high as that found for bulk Fe3O4 and, consequently, much higher than Ms values for nanoparticles usually coated with oleic acid. The nuclear techniques neutron activation analysis and perturbed angular correlations were used to better characterize the nanoparticles.