Synthesis of Magnetic Ferrites Inside Hollow Polyelectrolyte Capsules
Dmitry Shchukin (

),
Igor Radchenko, Gleb Sukhorukov
Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, 14424, Potsdam, Germany.
In presented work we describe the selective inorganic synthesis of
magneticferrites (CoFe2O4, ZnFe2O4, MnFe2O4) and magnetite (Fe3O4) inside
poly(styrene sulfonate) (MW ~ 70000) / poly(allylamine hydrochloride (MW ~
50000) polyelectrolyte capsules of micron scale. The influence of the
initial concentration of the inorganic precursors as well as of the
positively charged poly(allylamine hydrochloride) molecules on the
precipitation process and final characteristics of the resulted magnetic
composites was also investigated. Micron and submicron sized capsules were
made by means of layer-by-layer adsorption of oppositely charged
polyelectrolytes
on the surface of colloidal template particles (weakly cross-linked melamine
formaldehyde particles with an average diameter of 5.6 mm) with sequential
removal of template core. Synthesized magnetic ferrites and magnetite are
placed presumably on the inner side of polyelectrolyte wall. The average
diameter of resulted particles is within the range of 10-20 nm. Increasing
the initial concentration of the inorganic salts the complete filling of
capsule's interior can be observed while the absence of the magnetic
precipitates
inside the capsule was found at concentrations of the precursors below
5×10-4 M. Capsules bearing magnetic material inside can be easily driven by
magnetic field. Besides imparting magnetic properties, developed approach
of magnetite synthesis selectively in capsule interior illustrates
perspectives
to explore these capsules as microreactors for spatially restricted synthesis.
The influence of micron-scale volume and capsule composition on carrying out
chemical reactions in capsule interior is a subject for further
investigations.