Sp-ICPMS post synthesis quantification of magnetite nanoparticles encapsulated in core-shell hybrid nanocomposite
Résumé
With the rise of nanoscience in the recent decades, the design and development of advanced functional nanomaterials has undergone a large and rapid expansion due to their high potential in a wide range of applications such as electronics, energy storage, optics, catalysis, and nanomedicine.1 Especially, multifunctional core–shell nanoparticles have emerged as attractive and promising nanoscaled entities, because they are able to combine several functions into a single unit. In such context, the design of particles containing iron oxide colloids has become an intense field of research due to their large potentialities for biomedical applications.1,2 The main challenges in this area include a precise control of the size dispersity of both magnetic colloids and encapsulating particles, a subtle balance between a high iron oxide loading and a good dispersion of entrapped colloids, as well as a suitable surface chemistry that should guarantee particle biocompatibility and, if necessary, allow further bio-functionalization.3 In this work, we describe a useful strategy to control magnetite loading embedded within silica/methacrylate hybrid particles,4 using ICPMS operating in the single particle (sp) mode. The results provide a post-synthesis quantification of iron oxide colloids in the core that has been correlated to the magnetic properties and allow the optimization of the elaboration conditions. Finally, to provide a complete picture of the physico-chemical properties of the materials especially in terms of iron oxide localization, size of particles and chemical composition, electron microscopy (SEM, TEM) and photo-electron spectroscopy techniques (XPS, Auger) have also been used in combination to sp-ICPMS.