Carbon encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles for biomedical applications: thermal stability studies.

Carbon encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles may find many prospective biomedical applications, e.g., in drug and gene delivery systems, disease detection, cancer therapy, rapid toxic cleaning, biochemical sensing, and magnetic resonance imaging. Each of these applications hinges on the relationship between magnetic fields and biological systems. Herein we present the results on the thermal stability of carbon encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles. The products were synthesized by using induction radio frequency (RF) thermal plasma. Phase composition and morphology were studied by powder X-ray diffraction and HRTEM, respectively. Thermal stability was investigated by thermogravimetry and differential thermal analyses. Carbon nanostructures were thermally stable up to 500 K.

Combustion synthesis as a novel method for production of 1-D SiC nanostructures.

1-D nanostructures of cubic phase silicon carbide (beta-SiC) were efficiently produced by combustion synthesis of mixtures containing Si-containing compounds and halocarbons in a calorimetric bomb. The influence of the operating parameters on 1-D SiC formation yield was studied. The heat release, the heating rate, and the chamber pressure increase were monitored during the process. The composition and structural features of the products were characterized by elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis/ thermogravimetric technique, Raman spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry. This self-induced growth process can produce SiC nanofibers and nanotubes ca. 20-100 nm in diameter with the aspect ratio higher than 1000. Bulk scale Raman studies showed the product to be comprised of mostly cubic polytype of SiC and that finite size effects are present. We believe that the nucleation mechanism involving radical gaseous species is responsible for 1-D nanostructures growth. The present study has enlarged the family of nanofibers and nanotubes available and offers a possible, new general route to 1-D crystalline materials.