Novel flow injection synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles with narrow size distribution

A novel synthesis method based on a flow injection technique was developed and the synthesis of magnetite nanoparticles was performed to demonstrate the concept. The technique consisted of continuous or segmented mixing of reagents under laminar flow regime in a capillary reactor. Different schemes of the flow injection synthesis were evaluated and the continuous mode was found to be more advantageous for the synthesis of the iron oxide particles. The material was characterised by X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis, electron microscopy, and magnetic susceptometry. The obtained magnetite nanoparticles had a narrow size distribution in the range 2–7 nm. The influence of chemical parameters and conditions on properties of the material was investigated.