One-pot template-free synthesis of uniform-sized fullerene-like magnetite hollow spheres

Abstract Uniform-sized Fe 3 O 4 hollow spheres with average diameter of 250 nm and shell thickness of ∼50 nm have been successfully synthesized through a simple hydrothermal route with the presence of di- n -propylamine (DPA) as a weak-base. The reaction time and DPA amount play important roles in the formation of the magnetite hollow spheres. The structures of the products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectra, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The results show that the single-crystalline Fe 3 O 4 hollow spheres are composed of well-aligned magnetite nanoparticles (NPs). The magnetic property investigation shows that these hollow spheres have a higher saturation magnetization ( M s ) than the solid spheres. Furthermore, a possible mechanism for the formation of magnetite hollow spheres is proposed based on the experimental observations.