Preparation and Characterization of Fe₂O₃-SiO₂ Nanocomposite for Biomedical Application

Abstract

The scope of this chapter is to get deeper insight into the correlation between synthesis parameters and magnetic behavior of the nanocomposite materials containing hematite (α-Fe 2 O 3 ) nanoparticles. Potential applications of nanohematite in biomedicine are listed in the short overview. Then, basic requirements necessary for synthesis of high-quality nanoparticles for biomedical application are summarized. The next part of the chapter is devoted to the sol-gel synthesis that is recognized as suitable for preparation of the nanocomposite materials containing α-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles. Having in mind that sol-gel method considers preparation of hematite nanoparticles via Fe 2 O 3 phase transformations initiated by thermal treatment at high temperatures, coexistence of the other iron oxides (such as ε-Fe 2 O 3 ) with α-Fe 2 O 3 phase is commented. Special attention is paid on mechanism of the critical field (which is in literature usually denoted as coercivity field) alterations. Diffraction patterns and hysteresis measurements of the chosen samples containing hematite nanoparticles in the silica matrix are represented. Finally, variations in the observed measured critical field values are discussed.

The Influence of Thermal Treatment on the Formation Mechanism of the Cu, Fe-Containing Nanocomposite Material Synthesized by the Sol–Gel Method

“…The growth and size of the phases present in silica pores are limited by the size of the pores. The formation of the nanoparticles in the silica pores is based on the co-precipitation of the synthesis products (obtained by using the metal precursors) in the silica pores [2]. The product of the co-precipitation synthesis is characterized by a wide particle-size distribution in the silica pores.…”

“…The characterization technique, most commonly used to gain deeper insight into the particles size and shape distribution (transmission electron microscopy, TEM), is not suitable for investigating the multiphase, nanocomposite samples containing multiphase nanoparticles in the pores of silica matrix, prepared by auto-or acid-sol-gel syntheses [2], due to the overlap of the very small nanoparticles of different phases present in the pores of the silica matrix.…”