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The present study aimed to assess the feasibility of developing low-cost multipurpose iron oxide/TiO2 nanocomposites (NCs) for use in combined antitumor therapies and water treatment applications. Larger size (≈ 100 nm) iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) formed magnetic core-TiO2 shell structures at high Fe/Ti ratios and solid dispersions of IONPs embedded in TiO2 matrices when the Fe/Ti ratio was low. When the size of the iron phase was comparable to the size of the crystallized TiO2 nanoparticles (≈ 10 nm), the obtained nanocomposites consisted of randomly mixed aggregates of TiO2 and IONPs. The best inductive heating and ROS photogeneration properties were shown by the NCs synthesized at 400 °C which contained the minimum amount of α-Fe2O3 and sufficiently crystallized anatase TiO2. Their cytocompatibility was assessed on cultured human and murine fibroblast cells and analyzed in relation to the adsorption of bovine serum albumin from the culture medium onto their surface. The tested nanocomposites showed excellent cytocompatibility to human fibroblast cells. The results also indicated that the environment (i.e. phosphate buffer or culture medium) used to disperse the nanomaterials prior to performing the viability tests can have a significant impact on their cytotoxicity.

The present study aimed to assess the feasibility of developing low-cost multipurpose iron oxide/TiO

The equimolar oxide mixture β-Ga2O3—α-Fe2O3 was subjected to high-energy ball milling (HEBM) with the aim to obtain the nanoscaled GaFeO3 ortho-ferrite. X-ray diffraction, 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy were used to evidence the phase structure and evolution of the equimolar nano-system β-Ga2O3—α-Fe2O3 under mechanochemical activation, either as-prepared or followed by subsequent calcination. The mechanical activation was performed for 2 h to 12 h in normal atmosphere. After 12 h of HEBM, only nanoscaled (~20 nm) gallium-doped α-Fe2O3 was obtained. The GaFeO3 structure was obtained as single phase, merely after calcination at 950 °C for a couple of hours, of the sample being subjected to HEBM for 12 h. This temperature is 450 °C lower than used in the conventional solid phase reaction to obtain gallium orthoferrite. The optical and magnetic properties of representative nanoscaled samples, revealing their multifunctional character, were presented.

In this study, we compared the structural, morphological, and optical properties of a series of Zn1-xFexO (x = 0.00, 0.01, and 0.03) powders synthesized via a hydrothermal route with and without cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as a cationic surfactant. Our results highlighted the critical effects of the surfactant and the iron concentration on the structure, morphology, and optical properties of ZnO. X-ray diffraction, Mossbauer spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses indicated the presence of a single phase comprising ZnO with a hexagonal wurtzite structure in all samples and a single oxidation state (+3) for the iron (Fe3+) that replaced Zn2+ in the ZnO structure. Morphological investigations by scanning electron microscopy showed that the surfactant and Fe3+ dopant greatly affected the shape of the ZnO grains, which varied between sheets and rod-like flowers. We found that the morphological and photocatalytic properties of the two series of samples comprising iron-doped ZnO with and without the surfactant were in opposition. We propose a possible growth mechanism for the ZnO polycrystalline grains in the presence of the Fe dopant and/or surfactant. The photocatalytic properties increased for the samples prepared with surfactant as the iron content increased, which was confirmed by ultraviolet-visible reflection measurements. The photocatalytic activities of the samples prepared without surfactant decreased in both the ultraviolet and visible spectral regions as the iron content increased in the samples.

The study was focused on the influence of small amounts of rare earth (RE=La, Ce, Sm, Gd, Dy, Ho, Er, Yb) addition on the microstructure, phase content and magnetic properties of cobalt ferrite bulk materials. The X-Ray diffraction measurements confirmed the formation of the spinel structure but also the presence of secondary phases of RE oxides or orthoferrite in small percentages (up to 3%). Density measurements obtained by Archimedes method revealed a ~1 g cm−3 decrease for the RE doped cobalt ferrite samples compared with stoichiometric one. Both the Mossbauer and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrocopy analysis results confirmed the formation of the spinel phase. The saturation magnetization and coercive field values of the doped samples obtained by Vibrating Sample Magnetometry were close to those of the pure cobalt ferrite. For magnetostrictive property studies the samples were analyzed using the strain gauge method. Higher maximum magnetostriction coefficients were found for the Ho, Ce, Sm and Yb doped cobalt ferrite bulk materials as related to the stoichiometric CoFe2O4 sample. Moreover, improved strain derivative was observed for these samples but at higher magnetic fields due to the low increase of the coercive field values for doped samples.

We report results regarding the in vitro toxicology of γ-Bi2O3 represented by its isomorphous phase Bi12TiO20 (γ-BTO). The γ-BTO microparticles were synthesized by two methods: coprecipitation from a bismuth nitrate–tetrabutyl titanate solution and solid state reaction of Bi2O3 and TiO2 oxides. The structural and morphological characteristics of the obtained materials were determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), transmission (TEM) and scanning (SEM) electron microscopy. The elemental composition was investigated using energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). The cytotoxicity and oxidative/nitrosative stress (intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) release) induced by the studied microparticles in HepG2, SH-SY5Y and 3T3-L1 cell cultures were determined using the MTT, DCF-DA (2′,7′-dichlorfluorescein-diacetate) and Griess methods respectively. Depending on the cell type and γ-BTO concentration, results showed only weak cytotoxic effects after 24 h of γ-BTO exposure and cell proliferation effects for longer treatment times. Only reduced NO release increases (corresponding to high γ-BTO concentrations) were detected in case of SH-SY5Y and 3T3-L1 cells. The intracellular ROS production (higher for HepG2 cells) appeared inversely proportional to the γ-BTO concentration. The obtained results indicated a promising in vitro biocompatibility of γ-BTO and encourage further studies regarding its potential for biomedical applications.

The aim of this paper is quantitative characterization of a MnZn ferrite with Bi2O3increasing addition using the Image-Pro Plus software from Media Cybernetics. The sample matrix is a ferrite with the following chemical composition: Mn0.54Zn0.37Fe2.06O4. We applied the conventional ceramic technology in order to obtain the samples. Thus, the raw materials, i.e. αFe2O3, Mn3O4, and ZnO, in a molar ratio 53:28:19 were mixed in suitable proportions in a steel ball-mill using demineralized water. The mixture was burn off at 800 °C for 1 hour, in air. The pre-sintered powder was milled in steel ball-mill with increasing addition of Bi2O3(0.00, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07, 0.10, 0.30, 0.50 wt %). For quick references, the sample without bismuth ions was denoted and the samples with increasing concentrations were numbered from 1, 7.

With the aim of synthesizing the mixed nanoparticle system x In 2 O 3 –(1− x )SnO 2 over all molar concentration range 0 ≤ x ≤ 1, Δ x = 0.1, we performed hydrothermal supercritical experiments on indium–tin hydrogel resulted from InCl 3 –SnCl 4 water solution. Nanophases isostructural with InOOH and SnO 2 were obtained by hydrothermal reaction at 400 °C, in the molar concentration range of 0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.7; at x = 0.8 and x = 0.9 only one phase, isostructural with InOOH, was observed. Samples calcined at 500 °C with x in the range of 0.2 ≤ x ≤ 0.7 contain a nanoscaled phase isostructural with rhombohedral In 2 O 3 and a second one isostructural with tetrahedral SnO 2 . At x = 0.8 and x = 0.9 only one phase isostructural with rhombohedral In 2 O 3 appears: rhombohedral ITO phase. The determined band gap energies could recommend the rhombohedral ITO structure for visible light photocatalytic applications. The phase dynamics together with the concentration range for existence of the solid solutions in the InOOH–SnO 2 and In 2 O 3 –SnO 2 composite semiconducting nanoparticle systems have been evidenced and discussed.

Zinc chromites (ZnCr 2 O 4 ) have been synthesized via thermal decomposition of (NH 4 ) 2 [ZnCr 2 (C 4 O 6 H 4 ) 4 (OH) 2 ]∙9H 2 O and (NH 4 ) 3 [ZnCr 2 (C 6 O 7 H 11 ) 4 (OH) 7 ]∙H 2 O precursors. The complex precursors have been characterized by infrared spectroscopy (IR), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), thermal analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). ZnCr 2 O 4 samples have been investigated and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), ultraviolet-visible (UV–vis) and photolumininescence (PL) spectroscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) N 2 adsorption–desorption analyses. Nanoscaled (∼60 nm) single-phase zinc chromites were obtained by heating the precursors at 900 °C for 1 h. The influence of thermal treatment of tartarate precursor on structural, morphological and textural properties of ZnCr 2 O 4 is discussed.

We investigated the influence of rare earth (RE) additions on the structural, dielectric, magnetic and magnetostrictive properties of cobalt ferrite bulk materials. Three lanthanide ions with different ionic radii and magnetic properties were used as dopants: Dy, Gd, La. The structural properties of the sintered samples were investigated using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The room temperature hysteresis loops were obtained using a vibrating sample magnetometer. The frequency dependence of dielectric permittivity and tangent loss was investigated in the 20 Hz–20 kHz range. The variation of the magnetoelectric response with applied dc magnetic field was analyzed. The insertion of rare earth elements influenced the structural characteristics of the samples (density, cell edge, porosity) and the magnetic and electric properties. An increase in coercive field and a decrease in saturation magnetization and magnetostriction coefficient were observed. These results can be partially explained by the weaker nature of the RE 3+ –Fe 3+ interaction compared to Fe 3+ –Fe 3+ interaction and to the antiferromagnetic alignment of the REFeO 3 second phase observed in the diffraction patterns after sintering process.

TiO2-based photocatalysts were obtained during previous years in order to limit pollution and to ease human daily living conditions due to their special properties. However, obtaining biocompatible photocatalysts is still a key problem, and the mechanism of their toxicity recently received increased attention. Two types of TiO2 nanoparticles co-doped with 1% of iron and nitrogen (TiO2-1% Fe–N) atoms were synthesized in hydrothermal conditions at pH of 8.5 (HT1) and 5.5 (HT2), and their antimicrobial activity and cytotoxic effects exerted on human pulmonary and dermal fibroblasts were assessed. These particles exhibited significant microbicidal and anti-biofilm activity, suggesting their potential application for microbial decontamination of different environments. In addition, our results demonstrated the biocompatibility of TiO2-1% Fe–N nanoparticles at low doses on lung and dermal cells, which may initiate oxidative stress through dose accumulation. Although no significant changes were observed between the two tested photocatalysts, the biological response was cell type specific and time- and dose-dependent; the lung cells proved to be more sensitive to nanoparticle exposure. Taken together, these experimental data provide useful information for future photocatalytic applications in the industrial, food, pharmaceutical, and medical fields.

The CoxZn1−xGa2O4 spinels (x = 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1) were synthesized by a wet chemistry method–the precursor route via tartarate decomposition. The complex precursors have been characterized by IR, UV–Vis, magnetic measurements and luminescence spectroscopy. XRD, SEM, IR, UV–Vis and luminescence spectroscopy were used for the structural and morphological investigation of CoxZn1−xGa2O4 spinels; magnetic susceptibilities of the spinel were also measured. The X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed the formation of gallate spinel phase, CoxZn1−xGa2O4.

The complementary investigation techniques, Mossbauer spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy with selected area electron diffraction (TEM/SAED), X-ray diffraction (XRD) have been used to investigate the fate of the Valea lui Stan, Romania, gold-ore nanoscale-minerals during the long time of residence in the waste dumps. The preliminary investigations showed such waste dumps to contain significant amount of metals which cannot be identified by conventional methods. An intense research activity started up in order to evaluate the possibilities to recycle Valea lui Stan waste dumps and to recover metals by chemical or phytoextraction procedures. The waste dumps naturally show different mineral constituents with clay minerals as major phases, observed by XRD-technique. Although the waste dumps materials have whitish-yellowish colours, MOSSBAUER technique evidences the presence of the finely dispersed iron bearing minerals. The authors are focusing to inspect and analyze Fe-compounds in the samples collected from Valea lui Stan’s waste dumps in order to identify the magnetic phases by Mossbauer technique.

The thermal stability of two kinds of dextran-coated magnetite (dextran with molecular weight of 40,000 (Dex40) and 70,000 (Dex70)), obtained by dextran adsorption onto the magnetite surface is investigated in comparison with free dextran in air and argon atmosphere. The thermal behavior of the two free dextran types and corresponding coated magnetites is similar, but atmosphere dependent. The magnetite catalyzes the thermal decomposition of dextran, the adsorbed dextran displaying lower initial decomposition temperatures comparative with the free one in both working atmospheres. The dextran adsorbed onto the magnetite surface decomposes in air through a strong sharp exothermic process up to ~450 °C while in argon atmosphere two endothermic stages are identified, one in the temperature range 160–450 °C and the other at 530–800 °C.

Ferrite catalysts were prepared following two routes, i.e. the hydrothermal one and the calcination of an oxide mixture. In the first route sodium hydroxide, ferrous sulfate and the sulfate of the substituting ion (Mn, Ni) were used. The ferrites obtained using this route was NixFe3−xO4 (x = 0.5) and MnxFe3−xO4 (x ∼ 0.65). Following the second route were prepared three samples: NiFe2O4, Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 and MnFe2O4. Two of them contain the corresponding ferrites while the latter is a presintered oxide mixture (Fe2O3–Mn2O3). All the samples were fully characterized using chemical analysis, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and EDX, nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms at −196 °C, X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR, scanning electron microscopy and XPS. The catalytic activity evaluation was made using a mixture of 1700 ppm vol. of toluene and air flowing at 100 ml min−1 raising the temperature up to 600 °C in steps of 25 °C. Among these systems the sample representing the presintered Fe2O3–Mn2O3 mixture showed the highest activity.

CoFe2O4 and CoMn0.2Fe1.8O4 ferrites were synthesized using standard solid state phase ceramic method and coprecipitation and oxidation method. X-ray diffraction, Mossbauer spectroscopy, and surface electron microscopy were used to characterize the samples' microstructures. Vibrating sample measurement and strain gauge technique were used to characterize the magnetic and magnetostrictive properties of both powders and sintered samples, respectively. The specific magnetization increased from 55 emu/g for stoichiometric ferrite samples obtained by conventional method to 179 emu/g for coprecipitated ferite powders respectively. In the manganese substituted cobalt ferrite case the specific magnetization increased only twice, from 77 emu/g to 168 emu/g. The maximum magnetostrictive coefficient of coprecipitated samples of 145 ppm is smaller compared to that of solid state phase ceramic samples of 195 ppm. The most important benefit in the case of the coprecipitated and oxidized samples is the four fold increase of the maximum strain derivative compared to solid state phase ceramic samples.

Iron- and europium-doped (≤1 at.%) TiO 2 nanoparticles powders have been synthesized by a hydrothermal route at 200 °C, starting with TiCl 4 , FeCl 3 ·6H 2 O and EuCl 3 ·6H 2 O. The structure, morphology and optical peculiarities were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), Mossbauer spectroscopy and UV–vis measurements. The photocatalytic performance was analysed in the photodegradation reaction of phenol. Rietveld refinements of XRD patterns reveal that the as-prepared samples consist in iron- and europium-doped TiO 2 in the tetragonal anatase structural shape, with particle size as low as 15 nm. By means of Mossbauer spectroscopy on both 57 Fe and 151 Eu isotopes as well as by EXAFS analyses, the presence of Fe 3+ and/or Eu 3+ ions in the nanosized powders has been evidenced. It was found that iron and europium ions can substitute for titanium in the anatase structure. From the UV–vis reflection spectra, by using the transformed Kubelka–Munk functions, the band gap energy ( E g ) of the hydrothermal samples has been determined in comparison with that of Degussa P-25 photocatalyst. A decrease of E g from 2.9 eV found for Degussa photocatalyst to 2.8 eV for the titania doped with 1 at.% Fe has been evidenced, indicating a valuable absorption shift (∼20 nm) towards visible light region. However, the best photocatalytic activity in the photodegradation reaction of phenol was evidenced for the hydrothermal sample, TiO 2 : 1 at.% Fe, 0.5 at.% Eu, in both UV and visible light regions. The photocatalytic activities of iron-doped and iron–europium-codoped samples are high and practically the same only in visible light. The photocatalytic properties in correlation with the structural and optical peculiarities of the hydrothermal samples are discussed.

The thermal behaviour of five polynuclear coordination compounds containing tartaric anion as ligand, namely (NH4)3[LnFe(C4O6H4)3(OH)3] (Ln=La and Eu), (NH4)2[PrFe(C4O6H4)3(OH)2] and (NH4)[LnFe(C4O6H4)3(OH)]·3H2O (Ln=Nd and Gd) was investigated. The reaction progress was studied by TG/DTA and FTIR measurements. Oxalates and oxocarbonates were identified as intermediates. In the case of Ln=La, Nd, Pr, Eu and Gd, pure LnFeO3 was obtained as final decomposition product. The thermal decomposition of Eu-Fe compound, leads to a mixture of mixed (ortho-ferrite (EuFeO3) and garnet (Eu3Fe5O12)) and simple oxides (Eu2O3 and α-Fe2O3).

Graphene is widely used in nanotechnologies to amplify the photocatalytic activity of TiO2, but the development of TiO2/graphene composites imposes the assessment of their risk to human and environmental health. Therefore, reduced graphene oxide was decorated with two types of TiO2 particles co-doped with 1% iron and nitrogen, one of them being obtained by a simultaneous precipitation of Ti3+ and Fe3+ ions to achieve their uniform distribution, and the other one after a sequential precipitation of these two cations for a higher concentration of iron on the surface. Physico-chemical characterization, photocatalytic efficiency evaluation, antimicrobial analysis and biocompatibility assessment were performed for these TiO2-based composites. The best photocatalytic efficiency was found for the sample with iron atoms localized at the sample surface. A very good anti-inhibitory activity was obtained for both samples against biofilms of Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains. Exposure of human skin and lung fibroblasts to photocatalysts did not significantly affect cell viability, but analysis of oxidative stress showed increased levels of carbonyl groups and advanced oxidation protein products for both cell lines after 48 h of incubation. Our findings are of major importance by providing useful knowledge for future photocatalytic self-cleaning and biomedical applications of graphene-based materials.

The experimental set-up allows to store the measured data and the energy losses per cycle are calculated. The experimental results are compared with the simulated ones obtained in the dynamic Preisach model. The influences of the Bi 2 O 3 content and of the excitation frequency on the magnetic properties are discussed; an optimum amount of impurities is found.

An outstanding importance is given to the high initial permeability ferrites among the other sorts of the MnZn ferrites family, due to the widespread application (filters, pulse transformers etc.).

Ferromagnetic materials such as ferrites are widely used in high-frequency devices. The importance of these materials lies in their properties and high electrical resistivity, which allow electromagnetic wave to propagate through the medium with characteristics that depend on its state of magnetisation.