I have used NaOH solution to control the pH of the system for the fabrication of Fe3O4 NPs following the green chemistry approach. When I take edx spectrum of Fe3O4 NPs I observed a huge peak of Na (Sodium) in it. I would like to ask how these positive ionic impurities can affect my final product. As my NPs are quasi-spherical in structure and dark brown in color. As in FT-IR, I did not observe clear peaks related to Na (Sodium).
You may try Raman spectroscopy. Magnetite has an intense peak at 660 cm-1. Spectra of NP will be slightly asymmetric due to the confinement effect. Once you and Na, you may see differences. The interpretation is another story. The spectrum of magnetite may be broad. However, I would recommend using a high-resolution spectrometer to detect small changes in spectral shape, width, and position of the maximum.
To maintain the PH we were adding NaOH after the completion of the reaction the product should be washed finely with deionized water and ethanol for thrice and centrifuged properly so that we can avoid the noise of the Na peak
I think that you need to wash your NPs thoroughly (2 or 3 times) with deionized water and after with ethanol
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