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Nucleation and growth of magnetite from solution.

Nature materials (2013-02-05)
Jens Baumgartner, Archan Dey, Paul H H Bomans, Cécile Le Coadou, Peter Fratzl, Nico A J M Sommerdijk, Damien Faivre
ABSTRACT

The formation of crystalline materials from solution is usually described by the nucleation and growth theory, where atoms or molecules are assumed to assemble directly from solution. For numerous systems, the formation of the thermodynamically stable crystalline phase is additionally preceded by metastable intermediates . More complex pathways have recently been proposed, such as aggregational processes of nanoparticle precursors or pre-nucleation clusters, which seem to contradict the classical theory. Here we show by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy that the nucleation and growth of magnetite-a magnetic iron oxide with numerous bio- and nanotechnological applications-proceed through rapid agglomeration of nanometric primary particles and that in contrast to the nucleation of other minerals, no intermediate amorphous bulk precursor phase is involved. We also demonstrate that these observations can be described within the framework of classical nucleation theory.

MATERIALS
Product Number
Brand
Product Description

Sigma-Aldrich
Iron(II,III) oxide, nanopowder, 50-100 nm particle size (SEM), 97% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Iron oxide(II,III), magnetic nanoparticles solution, 20 nm avg. part. size, 5 mg/mL in H2O
Sigma-Aldrich
Iron oxide(II,III), magnetic nanoparticles solution, 5 nm avg. part. size, 5 mg/mL in H2O
Sigma-Aldrich
Iron(II,III) oxide, powder, <5 μm, 95%
Sigma-Aldrich
Iron(II,III) oxide, 99.99% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Iron oxide(II,III), magnetic nanoparticles solution, 10 nm avg. part. size, 5 mg/mL in H2O