Preparation of nanoparticles with an environment-friendly approach

Developing various approaches for preparing high performance materials has long been topics and tasks both for scientists and for engineers. Despite that many methods have been developed for preparing nanomaterials, developing simple and environment-friendly ways for preparing nanomaterials is very attractive. Here a simple approach of synthesizing Fe3O4 nanoparticles by arc-discharge submerging in water was reported. The results showed that by this method Fe3O4 nanoparticles can be synthesized at large scale. The as-prepared Fe3O4 nanoparticles exhibited uniform spherical shape and their diameters varied with arc-discharging parameters. The experimental results showed that the size of the synthesized Fe3O4 nanoparticles can be controlled through adjusting the processing parameters. Since no vacuum system has been used, the synthesizing process is greatly simplified. In addition, only cheap deionized water and industrial iron bar are used and no pollution or harmful byproducts are found in the synthesis process. It indicated that the present approach is a simple, low-cost and environment-friendly one for preparing nanoparticles.