Analysis of the factors affecting the magnetic characteristics of nano-Fe3O4 particles

Abstract

We prepared Fe3O4 nanoparticles using chemical coprecipitation and studied the factors affecting the magnetic characteristics of nano-Fe3O4 particles. We identified four factors and three levels of an orthogonal experiment and investigated these four factors that affect the magnetic characteristics of the Fe3O4 particles. We obtained important information from this investigation. The Fe3+ to Fe2+ molar ratio, the iron precursor salt, the amount of surfactant and the amount of alkali were found to be important. We also studied the influence of the order of alkali and surfactant addition, the aging time and the stirring speed on the magnetic characteristics of the nano-Fe3O4 particles. The Fe3O4 preparation process was also analyzed. © 2011 The Author(s).