Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles: Chemical Synthesis and Applications Review

Iron oxide nanomaterials have been gaining excessive importance because of their magnetic characteristics and wide applications. Iron oxides magnetic nanoparticles with appropriate surface chemistry are prepared either by wet chemical method such as colloid chemical or sol-gel methods or by dry processes such as vapor deposition techniques. Iron oxides in nano-scale have exhibited great potential for their applications as catalytic materials, wastewater treatment adsorbents, pigments, coatings, gas sensors, ion exchangers, magnetic recording devices, magnetic data storage devices, magnetic resonance imaging, bioseparation and as a soft ferrite. This review summarizes study of the methods for the preparation of iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles with a control over the size, morphology and the magnetic properties and some recent bio-engineering, commercial, and industrial applications.