One-step Cathodic Electrochemical Synthesis and Characterization Superparamagnetic Gadolinium Doped Magnetite/Polyvinyl Alcohol Core–Shell Composite Nanoparticles

Here we report an electrochemical synthesis method for the fabrication of Gd doped iron oxide nanoparticles (Gd-IONPs)/PVA core-shell composite. In this method, Gd-IONPs/PVA composite is electrodeposited in a simple two-electrode system containing stainless steel cathode and graphite anode. The PVA dissolved aqueous solution of iron(III) nitrate, gadolinium chloride and iron(II) chloride (with molar ration of 0.5:0.5:1) was used as the electrolyte. The fabricated Gd-IONPs/PVA composite are characterized through XRD, FT-IR, FE-SEM, DSC-TGA and VSM analyses. The structural analysis by XRD verified the magnetite crystal structure for the prepared sample. Also, the FE-SEM observations and EDAX data established the particle morphology for the deposited Gd-IONPs cores with size of about 25nm and 7.8% doped Gd3+ ions in its composition. The presence of 30% PVA shell on the GD-IONPs cores was established by TG data. Furthermore, the superparamagnetic behavior of the prepared composite was observed through VSM data, where the composite exhibited magnetic values of Ms=25.72 emu g–1, Mr=0.012 emu g–1 and Ce=0.29 Oe.