Hydrothermal synthesis of monodisperse Fe3O4 nanoparticles based on modulation of tartaric acid

In this paper, monodisperse Fe3O4 nanoparticles with single crystalline structure were synthesized via a facile environment-friendly method. And the size of the nanoparticles ranges from 10 nm to 15 nm. As-synthesized Fe3O4 were characterized by X-ray diffraction instrument (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer and field emission transmission electron microscope (FE-TEM). The effect of tartaric acid (TA) amount on products was investigated by XRD and TEM. The results indicated that TA could commendably modulate the crystalline phase, morphology and size of nanometer Fe3O4. A possible generated mechanism of Fe3O4 crystals was proposed in virtue of UV–vis absorption spectra. Besides, the magnetic properties of as-synthesized Fe3O4 were detected.