Issue 23, 2016

In situ dispersion of non-aqueous Fe3O4 nanocolloids by microdroplet coalescence and their use in the preparation of magnetic composite particles

Abstract

Monodispersity and size uniformity are critical issues for nanoparticles, especially for the inorganic particles dispersed in organic carriers serving as the precursor of composites. Herein, for the first time, we have developed a method based on flow-induced droplet coalescence for in situ dispersion of surface-modified Fe3O4 nanoparticles to prepare Fe3O4/polystyrene (Fe3O4/PS) composite particles. A plate-type microchannel was constructed to initiate droplet coalescence for reducing the water–oil interfacial area and for dispersing Fe3O4 nanoparticles into the precursor suspensions. Under optimized conditions, the precursor suspensions could be composed of monodispersed Fe3O4 nanoparticles with an average size of approximately 12 nm. In this case, the saturation magnetization of the prepared superparamagnetic composites was as high as 4.012 emu g−1 at a magnetite content of 5 wt%. The method is simple and has great potential to be tailored for the preparation of non-aqueous suspensions with uniform and monodispersed nanoparticles.

Graphical abstract: In situ dispersion of non-aqueous Fe3O4 nanocolloids by microdroplet coalescence and their use in the preparation of magnetic composite particles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Mar 2016
Accepted
01 May 2016
First published
03 May 2016

Soft Matter, 2016,12, 5180-5187

Author version available

In situ dispersion of non-aqueous Fe3O4 nanocolloids by microdroplet coalescence and their use in the preparation of magnetic composite particles

L. Du, Y. Wang, J. Xu, C. Shen and G. Luo, Soft Matter, 2016, 12, 5180 DOI: 10.1039/C6SM00628K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements