Journal of Nanotechnology and Materials Science | 2017-03-08

Investigation on Formation Mechanism of Magnetic Nanoparticles-coated on Polystyrene Microspheres in Aqueous Solution of Anhydrous Ethylenediamine and Hexamethylene Tetramine

Mingjuan Han

Abstract

The monodispersed PS microspheres are modified by concentrated sulfuric acid to obtain PS microspheres with negative charges, then polystyrene (PS)/magnetic composite microspheres were fabricated by a simple and novel method in aqueous solution of anhydrous ethylenediamine (EDA) and hexamethylene tetramine (HMTA). Through a serial of contrast experiments and the characteristic analysis of target samples, we have discovered the function of EDA and HMTA, respectively. EDA not only acts as a weak base providing OH - ions, but also acts as a chelating combining with Fe 2+ ions, which can control the concentration of Fe 2+ ions, and result in the pure Fe 3 O 4 particle coated on the surface of PS. Otherwise, the typical XRD peaks of FeOOH and Fe 3 O 4 appear, simultaneously, if HMTA plays an action in the formation magnetic nanoparticles-coated PS microspheres. Finally, the corresponding possible reaction mechanisms of EDA and HMTA for fabricating magnetic core-shell microspheres have been suggested in detail by comparing SEM, XRD, FTIR analysis together.

Keywords: PS/Fe3O4, Core-shell, Anhydrous ethylenediamine (EDA), Formation mechanism.