Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Prepared by Modified Co-Precipitation Method

The safe, targeted and effective release of drugs for therapeutics from nanostructured functional materials, particularly nanoparticles (NPs), has attracted much attention due to the ability to diagnose and cure of cancer and other ailments. The potential of magnetic NPs, that stems from intrinsic properties of their magnetic cores combined with their drug, can be exploited for clinical applications. Two main magnetic requirements for bionanotechnology-a high saturation magnetic moment and a near-zero remanence-occur in superparamagnetic materials. Here, we report synthesis of magnetite NPs by modified coprecipitation method. The effect of pH on the shape and size of NPs has also been reported in this paper. For superparamagnetic nature, the size of the NPs has great significance and should be compatible with the living cell. Ferric and ferrous chlorides are used as precursors and the amount of NaOH was varied to control the size and shape of the nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction patterns show the formation of magnetites. Scanning electron microscopy reveals that the prepared nanoparticles have size compatible with the diseased cell. M-H curves show the superparamagnetic nature of the nanoparticles, hence these NPs are well suited for the magnetic resonance imaging as the contrast agents, for cell tagging, magnetic separation, and hyperthermia treatments.