Synthesis and characterization of magnetic mesoporous particles

Abstract

Magnetic mesoporous particles were synthesized and their magnetic and structural properties are reported. The synthesis procedure consists of four steps: (i) preparation of magnetite colloidal nanopar- ticles; (ii) growth of a silica layer; (iii) development of the mesoporous structure and (iv) template removal. Two different methods for the template removal were studied and their effectiveness was dis-cussed. Magnetization and Mössbauer spectroscopy measurements showed superparamagnetic behavior for the particles at room temperature. X-ray diffraction and nitrogen adsorption measurements showed a mesoporous MCM-41 structure with 2.48 nm pore diameter and 1023 m2/g total area.