On the role of carboxylates-based capping agents for colloidal stability of Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles

Abstract

This work reports an investigation on the role of different types of carboxylates-based capping agents to the colloidal stability of Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles in aqueous solution. In this study, three different types of organic carboxylates, i.e. succinic acid, citric acid, and ascorbic acid were used as capping agent. The as-prepared magnetic nanoparticles with different types of capping agents were characterized using HR-TEM, FTIR, and XRD. In addition, the role of these capping agents on the stability of colloid of the as-prepared nanoparticles was also evaluated using zeta potential analyzer. Here, the colloidal stability of the nanoparticles was studied at various pH in the range of 3 to 7.