Response surface strategy in the synthesis of Fe3O4 nanoparticles

In the present study, Fe3O4 super paramagnetic nanoparticles were synthesized via co-precipitation of Fe3+ and Fe2+ chloride salts in the presence of ammonia Solution. The product was characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and zeta–potential particle size distributing methods. The synthetic procedure of nano iron oxides were optimized using modern statistical optimization methods. A major bottleneck of common optimization protocols is the variation of just one factor at each trial. In modern optimization protocols (experimental design) a combination of factor levels is considered. In the present study, response surface method (RSM) was applied to optimize the synthetic approach towards Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Results indicated the importance of acidity and ferric ion amount in achieving desired Fe3O4 nanoparticles.