Microfluidic Synthesis of -NH2- and -COOH-Functionalized Magnetite Nanoparticles

Cristina Chircov; Alexandra Cătălina Bîrcă; Bogdan Stefan Vasile; Ovidiu-Cristian Oprea; Keng-Shiang Huang; Alexandru Mihai Grumezescu

doi:10.3390/nano12183160

Microfluidic Synthesis of -NH₂- and -COOH-Functionalized Magnetite Nanoparticles

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 Sep 12;12(18):3160. doi: 10.3390/nano12183160.

Authors

Cristina Chircov^{1

2}, Alexandra Cătălina Bîrcă^{1

2}, Bogdan Stefan Vasile^{1

2

3}, Ovidiu-Cristian Oprea^{2

4}, Keng-Shiang Huang⁵, Alexandru Mihai Grumezescu^{1

2

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Science and Engineering of Oxide Materials and Nanomaterials, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 011061 Bucharest, Romania.
² National Research Center for Micro and Nanomaterials, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania.
³ National Research Center for Food Safety, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania.
⁴ Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 1-7 Polizu Street, 011061 Bucharest, Romania.
⁵ The School of Chinese Medicine for Post-Baccalaureate, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung 840301, Taiwan.
⁶ Research Institute of the University of Bucharest-ICUB, University of Bucharest, 050657 Bucharest, Romania.
⁷ Academy of Romanian Scientists, 54 Splaiul Independentei, 050045 Bucharest, Romania.

Abstract

Microfluidics has emerged as a promising alternative for the synthesis of nanoparticles, which ensures precise control over the synthesis parameters, high uniformity, reproducibility, and ease of integration. Therefore, the present study investigated a one-step synthesis and functionalization of magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) using sulfanilic acid (SA) and 4-sulfobenzoic acid (SBA). The flows of both the precursor and precipitating/functionalization solutions were varied in order to ensure the optimal parameters. The obtained nanoparticles were characterized through dynamic light scattering (DLS) and zeta potential, X-ray diffraction (XRD), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution TEM (HR-TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The results demonstrated the successful synthesis of magnetite as the unique mineralogical phase, as well as the functionalization of the nanoparticles. Furthermore, the possibility to control the crystallinity, size, shape, and functionalization degree by varying the synthesis parameters was further confirmed. In this manner, this study validated the potential of the microfluidic platform to develop functionalized MNPs, which are suitable for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications.

Keywords: amino; carboxyl; lab-on-chip; magnetite nanoparticles; microfluidics; nanoparticle functionalization.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by a grant from the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, UEFISCDI, project number TE 103, code PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-1450, entitled Multifunctional lab-on-a-chip microfluidic platform for the fabrication of nanoparticles.