A facile strategy to synthesize monodisperse superparamagnetic OA-modified Fe3O4 nanoparticles with PEG assistant

• A facile strategy with PEG assistant was adopted to synthesize OA-modified Fe3O4.
• As-prepared OA-modified Fe3O4 is super-paramagnetic, monodisperse and stable.
• The surface-modified method has good merits of celerity, simplicity and green.
• The molecular and concentration of PEG as the assistant were optimized.

A facile strategy was reported to synthesize monodisperse super-paramagnetic oleic acid (OA) modified Fe3O4 nanoparticles, which the poly ethylene glycol (PEG) was used as the assistant. The influence of the molecular weight and concentration of PEG was investigated in the process of OA-modification. In addition, the mechanism of PEG action in the reaction system was discussed. The morphology and properties of the as-synthesized Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles were characterized by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). The size (12 nm) of the as-prepared Fe3O4 nanoparticles is smaller than the superparamagnetic critical size (25 nm) of Fe3O4 nanoparticles, which endows the OA-modified Fe3O4 nanoparticles with superparamagnetic property. Furthermore, the dispersibility and stability of as-synthesized OA-modified Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles were very good. As the stabilizer and dispersant, PEG played a very important role and did not encapsulate the OA-modified Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The condition for OA-modified Fe3O4 nanoparticles preparation was optimized.