Magnetization of microorganism cells by thermal decomposition method

The bio-limited forming technology, a new technology organically integrating microbiology, manufacturing science and materials science, is used in the manufacturing of magnetic or conductive microstructures of different standard shapes. This paper explores the feasibility of magnetizing microorganism with thermal decomposition method. The principle of thermal decomposition of iron pentacarbonyl has been adopted to investigate the cells of Spirulina (a type of nature micro-helical microorganism) coated with pure iron. Further analysis have been conducted on the observations results of hollow micro-helical magnetic particles form, components and the phase structure obtained by using various tools including optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray detector (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). Results showed that Spirulina cells could be coated with iron particles after the completion of thermal decomposition process, with well-kept shape of natural helixes and consistent components of different sampling points on the surface layer and thickness of layer. After the heat treatment at 700°C, the type of the surface iron layer formed was α-Fe. The paper also investigates the kinetics of the cell magnetization technology by thermal decomposition.