Synthesis and characterization of new ferrofluids with particles of different shapes

• Grant number: 18/08172-9
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Condensed Matter Physics
• Principal Investigator: Antonio Martins Figueiredo Neto
• Grantee: Antonio Martins Figueiredo Neto
• Visiting researcher: Kinnari Harsumanbhai Parekh
• Visiting researcher institution: Charotar University of Science & Technology (CHARUSAT), India
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física (IF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 14/50983-3 - INCT 2014: complex fluids, AP.TEM

Abstract

The ferrofluids, also known as magnetic fluid in general is a colloidal suspension of magnetic nanoparticles in magnetically passive liquid medium. The research on magnetic fluid was initiated with the aim to exploit the magnetic properties along with the fluid properties so that the liquid magnet could offer additional advantages such as to conform the shape, easily injected to the hard-to-access locations, negligible friction, etc.. The idea is to exploit tremendous magnetic response due to ferri/ferro magnetic nanoparticles (~ 10 nm) along with the liquid characteristics of carrier, in the presence of a high magnetic field gradient. Such fluids are widely used as lubricant, airtight seals of rotary shafts, dampers, coolant, smart switches, level sensors, energy conversion devices, etc.. These fluids are also used in targeted drug delivery, hyperthermia, protein separation, MRI agents, bio sensors, etc.. More challenging applications of ferrofluids, mainly in optical devices, have been proposed recently. Ferrofluids were incorporated into optical fibers to build microstructured optical fibers. In these optical applications, the knowledge of the nonlinear optical properties of the ferrofluid is essential to guarantee the desired performance of the device. Our aim is to do synthesis of cube shape and spherical shape particles for an identical composition of particle material. The size and size distribution of these particles will be measured using powder X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and magnetic measurement of the sample using vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The detail investigation of these samples will be very interesting especially non-linear optical (NLO) measurement and small angle X-ray scattering technique (SAXS). These measurements will give insight into the effect of shape of these particles in aggregation, its susceptibility and hyperpolarizability value. This information is useful in complementing the results obtained from other techniques as well as in optical devices such as optical fiber and diffraction grating. (AU)