Synthesis and Characterization of Hydrophobic Fe3O4 Magnetic Nanoparticles with High Saturation Magnetization

A simple one-step solvothermal method is proposed to prepare hydrophobic Fe3O4 nanoparticles (MNPs) using iron acetylacetonate (Fe(acac)3), oleylamine (OAm), and ethylene glycol (EG). X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscope, infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectrometry, and vibrating sample magnetometer are used to characterize the structure, morphology, and properties of products. The testing results indicate that the as-synthesized products are spherical-like hydrophobic MNPs, superparamagnetic at room temperature, with a saturation magnetization up to 76.8 emu/g. The good hydrophobic property of MNPs is attributed to the coverage of oleylamine, without causing a remarkable loss of magnetic property. In addition, the influences of material ratio, aging time, oleic acid, and stearic acid used as additives are studied in our research.