Abstract
Due to the excellent flowability and shape adaptability, ferrofluids (or magnetic fluids, MF), offer potential in food and pharma, intelligent materials, fluid seals and devices, such as, robots, and remote controllers. Here, we stabilized a ferrofluid after coprecipitation of metal nanoparticles onto cellulose nanofibrils in aqueous suspension, obtaining a colloidal system with a magnetization value of 3.55 emu/mL. The MF was stable at pH > 7 and showed contactless magnetic direct driving or indirect guiding. Several use demonstrations were tested, for instance, as a flexible plug to separate, stir/mix or seal hydrophobic liquids. In addition, the MF exhibited gradients of relative density under the space-dependent magnetic field, which endowed sorting of plastic particles, according to their density. Our findings provide guidance for the design of multifunctional cellulose-stabilized aqueous MFs.
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