Oleylamine surface functionalized FeCo Fe2−O4 (0.0 ⩽y⩽ 1.0) nanoparticles

Calcination-Free Synthesis of Well-Dispersed and Sub-10 nm Spinel Ferrite Nanoparticles as High-Performance Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries: A Case Study of CoFe2 O4

Spinel ferrites are promising anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their high theoretical specific capacities. However, their practical application is impeded by inherent low conductivity and severe volume expansion, which can be surpassed by increasing the surface-to-volume ratio of nanoparticles. Currently, most methods produce spinel ferrite nanoparticles with large size and severe aggregation, degrading their electrochemical performance. In this study, a low-temperature aminolytic route was designed to synthesize sub-10 nm CoFe₂ O₄ nanoparticles with good dispersion through carefully exploiting the reaction of acetates and oleylamine. The performance of CoFe₂ O₄ nanoparticles obtained by a traditional co-precipitation method was also investigated for comparison. This work demonstrates that CoFe₂ O₄ nanoparticles synthesized by the aminolytic route are promising as anode materials for LIBs. Besides, this method can be extended to design other spinel ferrites for energy storage devices with superior performance by simply changing the starting material, such as MnFe₂ O₄ , MgFe₂ O₄ , ZnFe₂ O₄ , and so on.

CaO2/Fe3O4 nanocomposites for oxygen-independent generation of radicals and cancer therapy

The hypoxic tumor environment prevents the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), reducing the therapeutic efficiency. We construct oleylamine (OA) coated CaO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites to realize oxygen-independent generation of ROS and high efficient treatment of cancer. In the tumor site, CaO₂ reacts with water to generate H₂O₂, which can be catalized by Fe²⁺ that is produced by Fe₃O₄, to form highly toxic hydroxyl radicals (∙OH). To inhibit the premature reaction, CaO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles were coated with pH sensitive OA. The nanocomposites exhibited remarkable tumor growth inhibition ability and favorable biocompatibility, holding a great potential for hypoxic tumor therapy.