Formation of Magnetite Nanoparticles at Low Temperature: From Superparamagnetic to Stable Single Domain Particles

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Jens Baumgartner - , Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Author)
  • Luca Bertinetti - , Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Author)
  • Marc Widdrat - , Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Author)
  • Ann M. Hirt - , ETH Zurich (Author)
  • Damien Faivre - , Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Author)

Abstract

The room temperature co-precipitation of ferrous and ferric iron under alkaline conditions typically yields superparamagnetic magnetite nanoparticles below a size of 20 nm. We show that at pH = 9 this method can be tuned to grow larger particles with single stable domain magnetic (> 20-30 nm) or even multi-domain behavior (> 80 nm). The crystal growth kinetics resembles surprisingly observations of magnetite crystal formation in magnetotactic bacteria. The physicochemical parameters required for mineralization in these organisms are unknown, therefore this study provides insight into which conditions could possibly prevail in the biomineralizing vesicle compartments (magnetosomes) of these bacteria.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere57070
JournalPloS one
Volume8
Issue number3
Publication statusPublished - 8 Mar 2013
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

PubMed 23520462
ORCID /0000-0002-4666-9610/work/142238947