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Arc-discharge synthesis of iron encapsulated in carbon nanoparticles for biomedical applications

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The objective of the present work is to improve the protection against the oxidation that usually appears in core@shell nanoparticles. Spherical iron nanoparticles coated with a carbon shell were obtained by a modified arc-discharge reactor, which permits controlling the diameter of the iron core and the carbon shell of the particles. Oxidized iron nanoparticles involve a loss of the magnetic characteristics and also changes in the chemical properties. Our nanoparticles show superparamagnetic behavior and high magnetic saturation owing to the high purity α-Fe of core and to the high core sealing, provided by the carbon shell. A liquid iron precursor was injected in the plasma spot dragged by an inert gas flow. A fixed arc-discharge current of 40 A was used to secure a stable discharge, and several samples were produced at different conditions. Transmission electron microscopy indicated an iron core diameter between 5 and 9 nm. Selected area electron diffraction provided evidences of a highly crystalline and dense iron core. The magnetic properties were studied up to 5 K temperature using a superconducting quantum interference device. The results reveal a superparamagnetic behaviour, a narrow size distribution (), and an average diameter of 6 nm for nanoparticles having a blocking temperature near 40 K.

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Journal of Nanomaterials, 2014, num. 178524

# metadata.dc.source[].value
Articles publicats en revistes (Física Aplicada)

# metadata.dc.title[].value
Arc-discharge synthesis of iron encapsulated in carbon nanoparticles for biomedical applications