Dear colleagues
Recently, I decided to reproduce the approach for the synthesis of magnetite/polystyrene microparticles via emulsion polymerization developed by dr. Gu lab. I used this paper:Article Developing a hybrid emulsion polymerization system to synthe...
I've prepared magnetic fluid which is oleic acid coated magnetite nanoparticles in heptane 50 Wt% (the authors used octane, but I didn’t see significant difference) and tried to sonicate it (10 min, 600 W) in 0.4 mg/ml SDS (1/20 V/V).
Unfortunately, I faced the problem that during sonication there are some large clumps of magnetite formed. I can easily separate them but it causes some loses of the product. It's definitely agglomerated hydrophobic magnetite because I can dissolve them in hexane completely. Increasing of SDS conc. is undesirable because it's make droplets smaller than I need. Decreasing of magnetite content in magnetic fluid also undesirable because I want high magnetite content in the resulted hybrid beads.
I'll be glad any suggestions
Valentin
To prepare a highly concentrated emulsion of magnetic fluid in water, you can follow the general steps outlined below. However, it's important to note that specific procedures may vary depending on the type of magnetic fluid being used.
Depending on the particle size desired, you can pre-dissolve the hydrophobic particles in alcohol, then disperse this in water with sonication or high-shear homogenizer. Speed or amplitude of mixer---as well as whether you mix alcohol to water or water to alcohol---is chosen based on the required size and concentration of nanoparticles. This process is known as "a louche" or "louching" from the practice of mixing resinous Absinthe (a concentrated herbal alcohol) with ice water, which creates a "milky" microemulsion. Naturally, as Balram Lohan said in step 8, characterization of particles afterward is important.
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