Synthesis and characterization of FeO@SiO magnetic composite nanoparticles by a one-pot process.

FeO@SiO core-shell composite nanoparticles were successfully prepared by a one-pot process. Tetraethyl-orthosilicate was used as a surfactant to synthesize FeO@SiO core-shell structures from prepared FeO nanoparticles. The properties of the FeO and FeO@SiO composite nanoparticles were studied by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The prepared FeO particles were approximately 12 nm in size, and the thickness of the SiO coating was approximately 4 nm. The magnetic properties were studied by vibrating sample magnetometry. The results show that the maximum saturation magnetization of the FeO@SiO powder (34.85 A·m·kg) was markedly lower than that of the FeO powder (79.55 A·m·kg), which demonstrates that FeO was successfully wrapped by SiO. The FeO@SiO composite nanoparticles have broad prospects in biomedical applications; thus, our next study will apply them in magnetic resonance imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]