Colloidal Stability of Aqueous Ferrofluids at 10T.

Abstract

Magnetic density separation is an emerging recycling technology by which several different waste materials—from plastic products, electronics, or other—can be sorted in a single continuous processing step. Larger-scale installations will require ferrofluids that remain stable at several teslas, high magnetic fields at which colloidal stability was not investigated before. Here we optically monitor the concentration profile of iron oxide nanoparticles in aqueous ferrofluids at a field of 10 T and a gradient of 100 T/m. The sedimentation velocities and equilibrium concentration profiles inform on maintenance or breakdown of colloidal stability, which depends on the concentration and magnetic coupling energy of the nanoparticles. Comparison with results obtained with a small neodymium magnet indicate that stability at moderate fields is predictive of stability at much higher fields, which facilitates the development of new ferrofluids dedicated to magnetic density separation.