Reduction of iron by decarboxylation in the formation of magnetite nanoparticles

The process of formation of magnetite nanoparticles has been investigated by liquid chromatography and mass spectroscopy in the liquid phase decomposition of either Fe(III) acetylacetonate with decanoic acid or Fe(III) decanoate. In both cases, the dissociation into radicals of the iron carboxylate bonds provides the reduction of the Fe(III) cations and the oxygen atoms required for the formation of the mixed-valence inverse spinel magnetite structure. A reaction mechanism is proposed. It is also shown that the reaction of free decanoic acid with the Fe(III) cations in solution promotes the growth of faceted particles at the reflux temperature of the solvent (ca. 280 °C), while, under the same conditions, the stepwise decomposition of the Fe(III) decanoate generates smaller and pseudo-spherical particles. The latter also yields faceted particles when the temperature is increased above that of the total decomposition of the salt. Magnetic measurements make evident that the reaction starting from Fe(III) acetylacetonate yields nanoparticles with higher magnetization and lower spin disorder, due to the improved regularity of the surface crystal structure. The starting conditions for the decarboxylation process thus affect the morphology and magnetic properties of the resulting nanoparticles.