Morphology-Controlled Synthesis and Magnetic Property of Pseudocubic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

Pseudocubic iron oxide nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution have been synthesized. These pseudocubic nanocrystals are found to be bound by {012} facets, whose surface energy is more than those of other common planes such as {014} planes. The morphology transformation was successfully achieved by adjusting the ratio of the concentration of the reagent from irregular spherical, quasi-rhombic, and truncated cubic, to finally pseudocubic. The magnetic property of these nanocrystals is found to be influenced by varying the concentration of sodium oleate and oleic acid. It is attributed to the generation of Fe 2+ from Fe 3+ reduced by the reductive ambience provided by the surfactant. It may become a simple route to prepare magnetic iron oxide without the addition of Fe 2+ or reductive reagent to some extent.