Inorganic Magnetite Precipitation at 25 degrees C: A Low-Cost Inorganic Coprecipitation Method

An easy, low-cost coprecipitation method to inorganically produce magnetite nanoparticles from solutions, in free-drift experiments, under anoxic conditions, at 25 degrees C and 1 atm pressure is here presented. By using this method, pure magnetite is obtained as the final solid, which shows the typical magnetic properties and thermal stability behavior of magnetite produced by other methods. The size of the magnetite crystals produced by the present method varies from relatively big sizes (200-300 nm), to sizes within the single magnetic domain range, just depending on the incubation time. The solution from which magnetite precipitates may be representative of certain natural environments where bacteria that produce magnetite may live and, thus, our magnetite may be used as an inorganic reference to compare to biologically produced magnetites.