On the formation of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoclusters.
4 affiliations
- 1Institute of Inorganic Chemistry II, Ulm University Albert-Einstein-Allee 11 89081 Ulm Germany [email protected].
- 2Institute for Inorganic Chemistry, Graz University Stremayrgasse 9/IV 8010 Graz Austria.
- 3Institute of Physical Chemistry II, Ulm University Albert-Einstein-Allee 47 89081 Ulm Germany.
- 4Central Facility Electron Microscopy, Ulm University Albert-Einstein-Allee 11 89081 Ulm Germany.
Abstract
Even though clusters consisting of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION's) have been widely studied, means for rational tuning of important parameters such as crystallite size and aggregate packing density are rarely discussed. Both the crystallite size and the nanocluster size are important parameters for many applications involving SPION's, and the presented synthesis strategy allows for optimization of the SPION nanoclusters for a given application. Here we show that these parameters can be partially independently tuned through controlled water addition to a synthesis of cationically stabilized, monodisperse nanoclusters of SPION's in the presence of polyethylene imine (PEI). Larger crystallites form with increasing water content, which increases the contribution of attractive van der Waals interactions. The crystallize size within already formed nanoclusters can be further increased through increasing the synthesis time. On the other hand, larger nanoclusters with comparable crystallite sizes form in the absence of PEI. Based on DLS, XRD, TEM and SAXS measurements of the synthesized nanoclusters, a mechanism of formation is proposed that highlight the importance of the crystallite size of the primary particles before cluster formation as a key parameter for achieving well-defined, spherical nanoclusters, and that the critical crystallite size is dependent on the magnitude of electrostatic repulsion for a given system.
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BibTeX
@article{schwarz2026formation,
title = {{On the formation of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoclusters.}},
author = {Philipp Schwarz and Heinz Amenitsch and Joachim Bansmann and Johannes Biskupek and Mika Lindén},
journal = {RSC advances},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1039/d6ra04862e},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42851823},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - On the formation of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoclusters.
AU - Philipp Schwarz
AU - Heinz Amenitsch
AU - Joachim Bansmann
AU - Johannes Biskupek
AU - Mika Lindén
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - RSC advances
DO - 10.1039/d6ra04862e
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42851823
AB - Even though clusters consisting of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION's) have been widely studied, means for rational tuning of important parameters such as crystallite size and aggregate packing density are rarely discussed. Both the crystallite size and the nanocluster size are important parameters for many applications involving SPION's, and the presented synthesis strategy allows for optimization of the SPION nanoclusters for a given application. Here we show that these parameters can be partially independently tuned through controlled water addition to a synthesis of cationically stabilized, monodisperse nanoclusters of SPION's in the presence of polyethylene imine (PEI). Larger crystallites form with increasing water content, which increases the contribution of attractive van der Waals interactions. The crystallize size within already formed nanoclusters can be further increased through increasing the synthesis time. On the other hand, larger nanoclusters with comparable crystallite sizes form in the absence of PEI. Based on DLS, XRD, TEM and SAXS measurements of the synthesized nanoclusters, a mechanism of formation is proposed that highlight the importance of the crystallite size of the primary particles before cluster formation as a key parameter for achieving well-defined, spherical nanoclusters, and that the critical crystallite size is dependent on the magnitude of electrostatic repulsion for a given system.
SN - 2046-2069
ER -