Precipitation of spinel iron oxide: nanoparticle size control

The mean particle size of magnetite precipitated in aqueous solution can be adjusted and stabilized against ripening over a large nanometric range (1.5 to 12.5 nm) by controlling the pH and the ionic strength imposed by a non-complexing salt in the precipitation medium. The higher the pH and the ionic strength are, the smaller the particle size is. An explanation for this phenomenon is based on the lowering of the oxide-solution interfacial tension due to the surface electrostatic charge increase. A critical pH value corresponding to the saturation of the interface is defined and calculated. When the precipitation is effected above this critical pH value, the spontaneous decrease in surface area by ripening is avoided and, for a given ionic strength, the particle size depends only on the acidity. This model correlates well with the experimental results. This provides the first experimental example of thermodynamic stabilization of oxide nanoparticles.