Selective synthesis and characterization of iron oxide nanoparticles via PVA/PVP polymer blend as structure-directing agent

Abstract

FexOy nanoparticles have been prepared by hydrothermal technique in the absence and presence of 5% polymer blend of PVA/PVP as structure-directing agent. The as-prepared nanoparticles have been characterized by powder x-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet visible light spectroscopy (UV–Vis), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). TEM, and HRTEM results revealed that the as-prepared nanoparticles were single crystalline and had semi-spherical morphology. Also, the results revealed that the presence of the polymer blend served as a structural controlling agent as the presence of the polymer blend produced Fe3O4 (magnetite) nanoparticles selectively rather than γ-Fe2O3 (maghemite) nanoparticles. The reasons behind the impact of polymer blend were investigated. This method represents a facile and polymorphs-selective synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles for different applications.