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Synthesis of superparamagnetic nanoparticles dispersed in spherically shaped carbon nanoballs

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Abstract

In this work, carbon nanoballs in spherical shape with diameter 70 ± 2 nm containing well-dispersed superparamagnetic magnetite/maghemite Fe3O4/γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles of 5–10 nm in size were synthesised by a facile route using the radio frequency (rf) plasma in order to assist the pyrolysis of ferrocene. Ferrocene was placed in an inductively coupled rf plasma field without additional thermal heating to activate simultaneous sublimation and pre-pyrolysis processes. During this plasma activation, the resultant derivatives were carried by an argon gas stream into the hot zone of a resistance furnace (600 °C) for complete thermal decomposition. The deposition of the nanoballs could be observed in the hot zone of the furnace at a temperature of 600 °C. The synthesised nanoballs are highly dispersible in solvents that make them particularly suitable for different applications. Their morphology, composition and structure were characterized by high-resolution scanning and transmission electron microscopy, including selected area electron diffraction, electron energy loss spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Magnetic measurements demonstrated that the nanoballs possess superparamagnetic characteristics.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Sieglinde Pichl and Gesine Kreutzer for help with SEM and HRTEM measurements. Authors would like to express their gratitude to Dietmar Meiler and Alexander Schubert for the technical support during the experimental work. The authors thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG for financial support under the contract number HA 5133/4-1. Also it is worth noting that, the work was partly supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG under contract number WO 1532/1-2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Institute of Solid State and Material Research, P.O. Box 270016, 01171, Dresden, Germany

    E.M.M. Ibrahim, Silke Hampel, Jürgen Thomas, Diana Haase, A. U. B. Wolter, Vyacheslav O. Khavrus, Christine Täschner, Albrecht Leonhardt & Bernd Büchner

  2. Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Sohag University, Sohag, 82524, Egypt

    E.M.M. Ibrahim

  3. L.V. Pisarzhevsky Institute of Physical Chemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, pr. Nauky 31, Kyiv, 03028, Ukraine

    Vyacheslav O. Khavrus

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  1. E.M.M. Ibrahim
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  2. Silke Hampel
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  3. Jürgen Thomas
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  4. Diana Haase
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  5. A. U. B. Wolter
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  6. Vyacheslav O. Khavrus
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  7. Christine Täschner
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  8. Albrecht Leonhardt
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  9. Bernd Büchner
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Correspondence to E.M.M. Ibrahim.

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Ibrahim, E., Hampel, S., Thomas, J. et al. Synthesis of superparamagnetic nanoparticles dispersed in spherically shaped carbon nanoballs. J Nanopart Res 14, 1118 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-012-1118-8

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