| Abstract
| - A novel and facile β-cyclodextrin-assisted method has been employed in this study to prepare superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles from a single iron precursor of FeCl3·6H2O. Various characterization involving X-ray diffraction (XRD), standard and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM and HRTEM), electron diffraction (ED), and Raman spectroscopy has integrally testified the formation of pure magnetite nanoparticles with homogeneous morphology. The size of nanoparticles can be adjusted from 4 to 17 nm by varying the concentration of β-cyclodextrins. The success is ascribed to in situ formation of reducing sugar originating from the self-decomposition of β-CD under the reaction conditions, which partly reduces Fe3+ ions into Fe2+ ions for final formation of Fe3O4. Another function of β-CD is also discussed: that it acts as a coating agent to prevent particle growth and agglomeration, which allows the formation of nanoscale and superparamagnetic magnetite with different particle sizes. The saturation magnetization (Ms) of the as-obtained magnetite is measured and is strongly related to the particle size.
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