Preparation of Surface Modified Fe3O4 Nanostructures via Inverse Micelle Method and Study of their Magnetic Properties for Biological Applications

In this work, we report on the synthesis of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles at room temperature using microemulsion template phase consisting of cyclohexane, water, CTAB as cationic surfactant and butanol as a cosurfactant. Silica surface modification of the as-prepared nanoparticles was performed by adding TEOS directly to the alkaline medium. The structure, morphology, and magnetic properties of the products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) at room temperature. The results revealed formation of iron oxide nanoparticles, with an average size of 8.8-12 nm, a superparamagnetism behavior with fast response to applied magnetic fields and zero remanence and coercivity.