Synthesis and Characterization of Bi-Functional Poly (Acrylic Acid-Co-2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate) Coated Iron Oxide Magnetic Composite Particles

This paper covers the targetable magnetic iron oxide core and biodegradable, cost-effective, eco-friendly polymer shell considering their versatile and extensive use in various fields. In this work, poly (acrylic acid–co-2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate) [P (AA-co-HEMA)] magnetic composite polymer particles were synthesized by the method of two-stage solution polymerization in aqueous media. At first synthesis, the Fe3O4 particles by a traditional co-precipitation method and in the second stage occurs the formation of the polymer using acrylic acid (AA) as monomer and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) as co-monomer. Finally, the synthesized iron oxide particles encapsulated by a polymer to modify the surface of composite particles. The modified composite particles were then characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Diffractometry (XRD), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Vibrating Sample Magnetometry (VSM). The existence of carboxyl (-COOH) & hydroxyl (-OH) groups in the composite particles was confirmed by FTIR. XRD indicated the crystalline cubic spinel structure of magnetic composite particles. VSM results showed that the synthesized coated composite particles were paramagnetic in nature magnetic saturation is obtained 72.72 emu/g and 97.9 emu/g for bare Fe3O4 and coated magnetic composite particles respectively