Fabrication and characterization of superparamagnetic nickel ferrite ferrofluid

Abstract

Because of their unique magnetic characteristics, magnetic nanoparticles are being used in various applications. We used a two-step method to create nickel ferrite ferrofluid in this study. The first step included hydrothermal preparation of oleic acid-capped nickel ferrite nanoparticles, followed by surface functionalization of the particles with citric acid, which made the nanoparticles hydrophilic. The materials' phase purity, functional groups, and magnetic behaviour were investigated. The production of mono-dispersed spherical nanoparticles with an average diameter of 9 ± 3.6 nm was shown by TEM images. With a blocking temperature of 53 K, ZFC-FC measurements verified the sample's superparamagnetic properties. The average magnetic moment per particle and the average size of the magnetic particle were calculated using the Langevin function.