Hybrid Nanostructures of Fe3O4 and Au Prepared via Coprecipitation and Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis

The coupled processes of coprecipitation and ultrasonic spray pyrolysis (USP) were used to synthesize Fe3O4-Au hybrid nanostructures. The first coprecipitation method enabled the synthesis of Fe3O4 nanoparticles by mixing iron salts’ ions (Fe2+ and Fe3+) and ammonia as the base, and USP was used as the coating process of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles with Au. The formatted hybrid nanostructures consist of Fe3O4 nanoparticles that have Au on their surface in the form of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). AuNPs have a crystalline structure and range in size from 10 to 200 nm. Additional characterization techniques, including ICP-OES, TEM, SEM, EDS, DLS, zeta potential, and room temperature magnetic hysteresis loops, were used to determine the chemical, physical, and magnetic properties of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles and hybrid nanostructures. It was found that USP produces separate AuNPs too (not just on the Fe3O4 surface), suggesting a bimodal formation of AuNPs. The zeta potential of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles showed poor stability (−15 mV), indicating a high tendency to aggregate, and the zeta potential of the hybrid nanostructures was also very low (≅0), which, comparatively means even worse stability. The saturation magnetization of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles was 35 emu/g, which is relatively lower than that of bulk Fe3O4, while the saturation magnetization of the hybrid nanostructures was significantly lower (0.1 emu/g) compared to the Fe3O4 nanoparticles.