Vacancy ordered maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) nanoparticles functionalized with nanohydroxyapatite (HAp – Ca10(PO4) 6(OH)2) have been successfully synthesized using an inexpensive co-precipitation chemical route. Evidence for the presence of vacancy order in maghemite was shown by the superstructure lines observed in X-ray diffraction. The adsorption of carboxyl groups of citric acid (C6H8O7) onto γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles was investigated by FTIR, XPS and Mössbauer spectroscopy.

In this study, magnetic nanocomposites were developed and used as adsorbents for lead and copper from aqueous media. Structural, surface, magnetic and textural properties of functionalized maghemite nanoparticles synthesized by alkaline co-precipitation were studied. The surfaces of the iron oxide nanoparticles (Nps) were modified with different chemical agents such as fatty and amino acids, silica (SiO2), mesoporous silica (SBA-15), hydroxyapatite, multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), obtaining NPs with mean particle sizes ranging from 7 to 16 nm according to Rietveld refinement and TEM images analysis. The physicochemical surface properties of the functionalized materials were studied via zeta potential (z) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Mossbauer spectroscopy (MS) as a function of temperature and DC magnetometry were ¨ u...

Vacancy ordered maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) nanoparticles functionalized with nanohydroxyapatite (HAp – Ca10(PO4) 6(OH)2) have been successfully synthesized using an inexpensive co-precipitation chemical route. Evidence for the presence of vacancy order in maghemite was shown by the superstructure lines observed in X-ray diffraction. The adsorption of carboxyl groups of citric acid (C6H8O7) onto γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles was investigated by FTIR, XPS and Mössbauer spectroscopy. From XPS surface analysis, two binding energies related to oxygen were attributed to bindings between C6H8O7/γ- Fe2O3 and C6H8O7/HAp from an interfacial reaction promoted by strongly adsorbed H2O molecules at the surface of these nanomaterials.