Preparation and characterization of hydrophobic magnetite microspheres by a simple solvothermal method

Superparamagnetic magnetite microspheres with a hydrophobic surface were successfully prepared through a simple solvothermal method based on hydrolysis of iron–oleate complex in diphenyl ether in the presence of oleic acid as the ligands. The microspheres size and size distribution were analyzed by a laser diffraction particle size analyzing method using ZETASIZER. The morphology and crystalline structure of the products were characterized using transmitting electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), and the magnetic property was studied by a Quantum Design MPMS SQUID. TEM and SEM images showed that as-prepared spherical nanostructures are of about 140 nm in sizes, which self-assembled by many 10 nm primary magnetic nanoparticles. The XRD analysis revealed that the magnetic microspheres are composed of magnetite. The magnetic measurements demonstrated that the spherical nanostructures are superparamagnetic at room temperature with no magnetic remanence and coercive force. In addition, the microspheres can be well dispersed in various non-polar solvents due to their surfaces capped of hydrophobic surfactants in situ.