Synthesis of magnetic rhenium sulfide composite nanoparticles

Abstract Rhenium sulfide nanoparticles are associated with magnetic iron oxide through coprecipitation of iron salts with tetramethylammonium hydroxide. Sizes of the formed magnetic rhenium sulfide composite particles are in the range 5.5–12.5 nm. X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive analysis of X-rays spectra demonstrate the coexistence of Fe3O4 and ReS2 in the composite particle, which confirm the formation of the magnetic rhenium sulfide composite nanoparticles. The association of rhenium sulfide with iron oxide not only keeps electronic state and composition of the rhenium sulfide nanoparticles, but also introduces magnetism with the level of 24.1 emu g–1 at 14 kOe. Surface modification with monocarboxyl-terminated poly(ethylene glycol) (MPEG-COOH) has the role of deaggregating the composite nanoparticles to be with average hydrodynamic size of 27.3 nm and improving the dispersion and the stability of the composite nanoparticles in water.