Abstract
Cathodic electrochemical deposition (CED) is introduced as an efficient and effective method for synthesis and surface coating of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs). In this way, bare Fe3O4 nanoparticles were electrosynthesized through CED method from aqueous solution Fe3+ : Fe2+ chloride (molar ratio of 2 : 1). In the next step, the surface of NPs was coated with polyethyleneimine (PEI) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) during the CED procedure, and PEG/PEI coated SPIONs were obtained. The prepared NPs were evaluated by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic light scattering (DLS), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The pure magnetite phase and nanosize (about 15 nm) of the prepared NPs were confirmed by XRD and FE-SEM. The presence of two coats (i.e., PEG and PEI) on the surface of electrosynthesized NPs was proved via FTIR results. The percentage of polymer coat (37.5%) on the NPs surface was provided by TGA analysis. The high magnetization value, negligible coercivity, and remanence measured by VSM indicate the superparamagnetic nature of both prepared NPs. The obtained results confirmed that the prepared Fe3O4 nanoparticles have suitable physicochemical and magnetic properties for biomedical applications.
Highlights
In recent years, the application of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) in areas of bionanotechnology and biomedicine has been highly interesting, which is mainly due to the multiple properties offered by this type of material [1,2,3]
The peak intensity of the coated sample is lower than that of uncoated one, which is related to the existence of polyethylene glycol (PEG)/PEI coat on the surface of Fe3O4 nanoparticles
The crystallite size was calculated by measuring the half-height width of the strongest reflection plane (i.e., 311), using the well-known Scherrer formula (D = 0.9λ/β cos(θ)), where β is the full width at half maxima (FWHM) of the (311) peak
Summary
The application of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) in areas of bionanotechnology and biomedicine has been highly interesting, which is mainly due to the multiple properties offered by this type of material [1,2,3]. There are many reports on the preparation of MNPs through various chemical methods like as sol-gel, coprecipitation, hydrothermal method, thermal decomposition, microemulsion, and colloidal chemistry method. We report the preparation of Fe3O4 nanoparticles from aqueous medium through CED method and their in situ surface coating with polyethylene glycol, polyvinyl chloride, and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) polymers [8, 9]. In spite of the most used chemical routes which have multistep procedure and require long time (8–12 h) and high temperature (40–80∘C) for coating process, our developed method was in situ, simple, one-pot, and time conserving This one-pot, in situ, and simultaneous double coating of surface of Fe3O4 NPs has not been reported until now
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
