Preparation and characterization of Fe3O4 nanoparticles used in intelligent polymer gels and intelligent polymer gels drived by magnetic fields

Abstract

In this work magnetic particles are synthesized by in situ formation of magnetite in the gel phase through coprecipitation of Fe(II) and Fe(III) in alkaline media. Preparation parameters of Fe <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4</sub> nanoparticles are full tested by orthogonal test. The study is devoted to synthesis and characterization of the structure and properties of Fe <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4</sub> nanoparticles and magnetic field sensitive polymer gels composed of cross-linked PVA and magnetite. The structure and properties of magnetic field sensitive polymer gels and Fe <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4</sub> nanoparticles are studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electronmicroscopy (TEM), vibration sample magnetometery (VSM), electron microscope (EM) and infrared (IR).The ability of this magneto-elastic magnetic field sensitive polymer gels to deflect in the presence of a magnetic field was explored in this study. The dependence of deflection on the iron oxide concentration and magnetic field strength was also investigated. Finally, one approach on how to make a soft finger of robot were discussed.