Synthesis and characterization of MgFe2O4 nanoparticles and PEG-coated MgFe2O4 nanocomposite

Abstract

The present study aims to synthesize MgFe2O4 nanoparticles with different molar ratio of Mg/Fe by sol-gel following the Pechini route, in addition, MgFe2O4 nanoparticles coated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) were synthesized by the agitation method for their possible use as potential candidates for biomedical applications. The nanoparticles and nanocomposite obtained with this method were characterized by XRD, TGA and DTA, SEM-EDX, TEM, VSM and FTIR. The XRD results show of nanoparticles with Mg/Fe ratio = 0.75 have inverse spinel structure corresponding to pure magnesium ferrite phase. TGA and DTA show average weight losses of 76% in the precursors and indicate the beginning of the formation of the crystalline phase at 500 °C. SEM micrographs reveals the presence of agglomerates of nanoparticles from 1 to 7 μm and EDX spectrum revels the presence of Mg, Fe, O and C elements. TEM analysis corroborates the presence of the pure phase of MgFe2O4 with spherical morphologies and average particle size of 36 nm. While, the coated nanoparticles presented a weight loss of 11% attributed to the nature of coating, presence of agglomerates with sizes of 1 μm by SEM, and spherical morphologies and average sizes of 25 nm by TEM. In addition, the magnetic properties reveal the superparamagnetic behavior with saturation magnetization (Ms) in the range of 16–17 emu/g at 25 °C. Finally, FTIR spectra showed the characteristic vibrational frequencies of MgFe2O4 nanoparticles and polymer coating (PEG).