Polymer-coated Iron Oxide Magnetic Nanoparticles – Preparation and Characterization

This contribution presents the production of polymer-coated iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles carrying functional groups on their surface and their basic characterization. The preparation of polymer-coated nanoparticles was carried out by a two-step process. In the first step, magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles were prepared by a co-precipitation method from the solutions of FeCl2.4H2O and FeCl3.6H2O using aqueous solution of NaOH. In the second step, obtained magnetic nanoparticles were coated with polymer using emulsion polymerization at high surfactant to monomer ratio. Methyl methacrylate (MMA) and acrylic acid (AAc) were used as comonomers, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as a surfactant and potassium persulfate (KPS) as an initiator.