Facile interfacial coprecipitation to fabricate hydrophilic amine-capped magnetite nanoparticles

By using an interfacial coprecipitation method, hydrophilic magnetite nanoparticles capped with amine groups are facilely fabricated in this paper. In the approach, di-n-propylamine and a water/cyclohexane mixture act as the alkali and medium, respectively, so that the coprecipitate reaction is confined only to the interface between water and cyclohexane. The resultant nanoparticles are characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, total nitrogen mass analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and so forth. It is confirmed that the resultant nanoparticles possess not only relatively narrow size distribution but also a hydrophilic amine-decorated surface, which provides them with the capability of being further modified. Besides, the mechanism of the nucleation and growth of nanoparticles during interfacial coprecipitation is also discussed.