Relationship between surface structure and morphology of Fe3O4/silica composite nanospheres and nucleic acid extraction

Fe3O4/silica composite nanospheres with different surface structure and morphology were synthesized by changing reaction conditions. As-synthesized nanospheres were characterized by high performance particle sizer (HPPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen adsorption and thermogravimetry (TGA). Besides thoroughly characterization, the particles were used for DNA extraction. We found that the particle surface structure and morphology affected the nucleic acid extraction efficiency. When comparing different samples with the same silanol density (1018), the one with a surface area of 60.37 m2/g extracted DNA most effectively. Also, with increasing silanol density per surface area, DNA extraction efficiency increased.