Please cite this article as: Marin Tadic, Lazar Kopanja, Matjaz Panjan, Slavko Kralj, Jasmina Nikodinovic-Runic, Zoran Stojanovic, Synthesis of core-shell hematite (␣-Fe2O3) nanoplates: quantitative analysis of the particle structure and shape, high coercivity and low cytotoxicity, Applied Surface Science http://dx.
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Graphical abstractHighlights Uniform plate-like nanopartices are synthesized by hydrothermal method. Low-citotoxicity of hematite nanoplates is observed. High coercivity of the sample point to the shape anisotropy. Shape and structure of the nanoplates are analysed by computational methods.
AbstractHematite core-shell nanoparticles with plate-like morphology were synthesized using a one-step hydrothermal synthesis. An XRPD analysis indicates that the sample consist of single-phase α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. SEM and TEM measurements show that the hematite sample is composed 3 of uniform core-shell nanoplates with 10-20 nm thickness, 80-100 nm landscape dimensions (aspect ratio ~5) and 3-4 nm thickness of the surface shells. We used computational methods for the quantitative analysis of the core-shell particle structure and circularity shape descriptor for the quantitative shape analysis of the nanoparticles from TEM micrographs. The calculated results indicated that a percentage of the shell area in the nanoparticle area (share [%]) is significant. The determined values of circularity in the perpendicular and oblique perspective clearly show shape anisotropy of the nanoplates. The magnetic properties revealed the ferromagnetic-like properties at room temperature with high coercivity HC=2340 Oe, pointing to the shape and surface effects. These results signify core-shell hematite nanoparticles' for practical applications in magnetic devices. The synthesized hematite plate-like nanoparticles exhibit low cytotoxicity levels on the human lung fibroblasts (MRC5) cell line demonstrating the safe use of these nanoparticles for biomedical applications.