A facile two-step modifying process for preparation of poly(SStNa)-grafted Fe3O4/SiO2 particles

This article reports the synthesis of the poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate)-grafted Fe₃O₄/SiO₂ particles via two steps. The first step involved magnetite nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄) homogeneously incorporated into silica spheres using the modified Stöber method. Second, the modified silica-coated Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles were covered with the outer shell of anionic polyelectrolyte by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization. The resulted composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive microscopy (EDS), Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and vibration sample magnetometer (VSM). The XRD results indicated that the surface modified Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles did not lead to phase change compared with the pure Fe₃O₄. TEM studies revealed nanoparticles remained monodisperse. The detection of sulfur and sodium signals was a convincing evidence that sodium 4-styrenesulfonate was grafted onto the surface of the magnetic silica in XPS analysis. Finally, super-paramagnetic properties of the composite particles, and the ease of modifying the surfaces may make the composites of important use in mild separation, enzyme immobilization, etc.