The Synthesis And Characterization Of Ferrite Nanoparticles In Reverse Micelle System

In the past decade, many investigations have been performed on the magnetic nanoparticles of spinel ferrites. It has not only the great potentials for basic science, but also for the applications in materials.Reverse micelles are water-in-oil microemlsions. The "water pool" in reverse micelle is formed by surfactant spontaneously arraying in non-aqueous solvent. This provides an excellent micro-reactor for the preparation of nanoparticles. It has many advantages, such as the particles size is well distributed, and its diameter can be well controlled, etc. Because of this virtue, reverse micelle shows broad prospects in the preparation of ferrite nanoparticles.hi this work, the syntheses of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles, CoFe2O4 nanoparticles and ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles are prepared by the reverse micelle method, these preparations employed reverse micelles formed with anionic surfactant bis-(2-ethylhexyl) sodium sulosuccinate(AOT), which is considered the most effective surfactant, and another anionic surfactant bis-(2-ethylhexyl) sodium hydroxy sulosuccinate(AHOT), which is a new surfactant, and was synthesized by our own research group. We also synthesized ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles using the cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). Finally, we discussed the effect of surfactant on the fabrication of ferrite nanoparticles by reverse micelles.At last we draw the conclusion that for the synthesis of ferrite nanoparticles, anionic surfactants are superior to cationic surfactants. By discussing the relationship of the two anionic surfactants: AOT and AHOT, we get the point that they expressed advantages in synthesis progress and the final product structure respectively.