Ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with titanium-N,N-dialkylcarbamato coating

This work deals with the preparation and physical-chemical characterization of new ultrasmall iron oxide superparamagnetic nanoparticles (USPIONs) functionalized with titanium-N,N-dialkylcarbamato. The preparation was performed starting with monodispersed USPIONs covered with oleic acid, synthesized by thermal-decomposition, and subsequently functionalized with metal-carbamato by a ligand-exchange reaction. The surface and coating structure was characterized by infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy on the solid powders and thermogravimetry (TG) coupled with an FT-IR detector in order to better investigate the self-assembling properties of the coating. A detailed dimensional and morphological study was carried out by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis. Zero-field-cooled (ZFC) and field-cooled (FC) magnetic susceptibility curves as well as the magnetization behavior as a function of temperature were investigated on both the starting oleic-USPIONs and those covered by titanium-N,N-dialkylcarbamato. These results confirmed the superparamagnetic properties of the new nanoparticles (NPs), highlighting the quite high saturation value of the magnetization. Based on the results obtained by combining different experimental techniques, a model of the coating structure and ligand organization around the magnetic core is proposed for both NPs, i.e. the starting USPIONs covered by oleic acid and the new USPIONs functionalized by titanium-N,N-dialkylcarbamato.