TY - JOUR

T1 - Synthesis of GdFeO3 nanoparticles via low-temperature reverse co-precipitation

T2 - The effect of strong agglomeration on the magnetic behavior

AU - Albadi, Y.

AU - Martinson, K. D.

AU - Shvidchenko, A. V.

AU - Buryanenko, I. V.

AU - Semenov, V. G.

AU - Popkov, V. I.

N1 - Funding Information: The research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 19-73-00286). The study was partially performed on the equipment of the Engineering Center of Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology. The authors are grateful to Rogozev A. B. for the 57Fe M?ssbauer spectroscopy study performed using the equipment of the RITVERC JSC company. Publisher Copyright: © 2020, ITMO University. All rights reserved. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Gadolinium orthoferrite (GdFeO3) seems to have potential as a dual-modal contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), thus its preparation in the form of ultrafine superparamagnetic nanoparticles is currently of great interest. In this work, nanocrystalline GdFeO3 was successfully synthesized by the heat treatment (750 °C, 4 h) of gadolinium and iron(III) hydroxides reversely co-precipitated at low temperature (0 °C). Initial and resulting powders were analyzed by EDX, SEM, PXRD, Mössbauer spectroscopy, vibration magnetometry, etc. Gadolinium orthoferrite was formed as isometric nanocrystals with an average size of 23-3 nm, which were strongly agglomerated into clusters of about 200 nm in diameter. It was shown that the individual GdFeO3 nanocrystals are superparamagnetic, but in the cluster form, they exhibit a collective weak ferromagnetic behavior. After ultrasonic-assisted disintegration of GdFeO3 to a colloidal solution form, these clusters remained stable due to their strong agglomeration and low zeta potential value of 1 mV. Thus, it is concluded that the further use of the synthesized GdFeO3 nanoparticles as a basis of MRI contrast agents will be possible only after the suppression of their clustering.

AB - Gadolinium orthoferrite (GdFeO3) seems to have potential as a dual-modal contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), thus its preparation in the form of ultrafine superparamagnetic nanoparticles is currently of great interest. In this work, nanocrystalline GdFeO3 was successfully synthesized by the heat treatment (750 °C, 4 h) of gadolinium and iron(III) hydroxides reversely co-precipitated at low temperature (0 °C). Initial and resulting powders were analyzed by EDX, SEM, PXRD, Mössbauer spectroscopy, vibration magnetometry, etc. Gadolinium orthoferrite was formed as isometric nanocrystals with an average size of 23-3 nm, which were strongly agglomerated into clusters of about 200 nm in diameter. It was shown that the individual GdFeO3 nanocrystals are superparamagnetic, but in the cluster form, they exhibit a collective weak ferromagnetic behavior. After ultrasonic-assisted disintegration of GdFeO3 to a colloidal solution form, these clusters remained stable due to their strong agglomeration and low zeta potential value of 1 mV. Thus, it is concluded that the further use of the synthesized GdFeO3 nanoparticles as a basis of MRI contrast agents will be possible only after the suppression of their clustering.

KW - colloidal solutions

KW - contrast agents

KW - Gadolinium orthoferrite

KW - magnetic resonance imaging

KW - nanoparticles

KW - colloidal solutions

KW - contrast agents

KW - Gadolinium orthoferrite

KW - magnetic resonance imaging

KW - nanoparticles

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85090149753&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.17586/2220-8054-2020-11-2-252-259

DO - 10.17586/2220-8054-2020-11-2-252-259

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85090149753

VL - 11

SP - 252

EP - 259

JO - Nanosystems: Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics

JF - Nanosystems: Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics

SN - 2220-8054

IS - 2

ER -