Abstract
Nanosized CoFe1.8RE0.2O4 (RE3+ = Tb3+, Er3+) ferrites were obtained through wet ferritization method. These ferrites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM/HR-TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetic measurements. The XRD results revealed that the average crystallite size is 5.77 nm for CoFe1.8Tb0.2O4 and 6.42 nm for CoFe1.8Er0.2O4. Distribution of metal cations in the spinel structure estimated from X-ray diffraction data showed that the Tb3+ and Er3+ ions occupy the octahedral sites. TEM images indicated the presence of polyhedral particles with average size 5.91 nm for CoFe1.8Tb0.2O4 and 6.80 nm for CoFe1.8Er0.2O4. Room temperature Mössbauer spectra exhibit typical nanoscaled cobalt ferrite spectra in good agreement with XRD and TEM data. The saturation magnetization value (Ms) is 60 emu/g for CoFe1.8Tb0.2O4 and 80 emu/g for CoFe1.8Er0.2O4. CoFe1.8RE0.2O4 nanoparticles showed similar antimicrobial efficacy against the five tested microbial strains, both in planktonic and biofilm state. The results highlight the promising potential of these types of nanoparticles for the development of novel anti-biofilm agents and materials.
Highlights
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutralIn recent decades, spinel ferrite and substituted spinel ferrite nanoparticles have attracted an increasing interest due to their potential applications in several fields, such as permanent magnets, microwave devices, information storage systems, magnetic fluids and magnetic soft robots [1,2,3]
One can conclude that the spread of the data regarding the solubility of RE3+ ions in the spinel structure of CoFe2 O4 is related to the preparation route and, for a similar preparation method, it strongly depends on the synthesis/thermal processing factors
The synthesis of Tb3+ and Er3+ substituted cobalt ferrites through wet ferritization method using temperatures below 100 ◦ C leads to the formation of spinel oxide single phase
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutralIn recent decades, spinel ferrite and substituted spinel ferrite nanoparticles have attracted an increasing interest due to their potential applications in several fields, such as permanent magnets, microwave devices, information storage systems, magnetic fluids and magnetic soft robots [1,2,3]. In terms of biomedical applications, they are used for diagnosis (magnetic resonance imaging, biosensors) and treatment (e.g., cancer treatment, drug delivery systems, magnetic hyperthermia) [4,5,6,7,8]. The properties of these ferrites are dependent on the nature of the cations, their charges and their distribution between the tetrahedral (A) and the octahedral (B) sublattices of the spinel structure [9]. Cobalt ferrite (CoFe2 O4 ), an important member of the spinel family, crystallizes in a 2+ 3+ 3+. CoFe2 O4 is ferrimagnetic with a Curie temperature (Tc ) around 520 ◦ C, large anisotropy and moderate saturation magnetization, as well as tunable coercivity; it exhibits physical and chemical stability [11].
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