Abstracts Book - IMRC 2018

• SA6-P121
SYNTHESIS OF MAGNETITE@SILICA/ZINC OXIDE CATALYTIC
MICROMOTORS
Gustavo Ochoa 1 , Alejandro Vazquez 1
1 Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, , Mexico.
Catalytic micromotors are particles that can generate self-movement by means
of redox reactions with a convenient fuel. One type of micromotors is formed
by an asymmetrical particle composed by a semiconductor such as TiO2 or ZnO,
which reacts with H2O2 under UV irradiation to produce O2 and therefore, selfmovement.
Additionally, depending on the incorporation of other materials
they can be useful for applications in different areas like biomedicine and
environmental remediation. In this work, magnetite nanoparticles were
synthesized by co-precipitation route and encapsulated in silica by the Stöbber
method in order to obtain Fe3O4@SiO2 particles, which were deposited on
PMMA substrate by spin coating. After that, an asymmetric growth of ZnO was
performed on the surface of Fe3O4@SiO2 particles by the thermal manipulation
of embedded particles method, which consists in the partial immersion of a first
material (Fe3O4@SiO2)on a polymeric substrate to later deposit a second
material (ZnO). The obtained products were characterized by x-ray diffraction,
atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Moreover, their
proprieties as catalytic micromotors were evaluated through the use of H2O2 as
fuel and under UV irradiation, by means of optical microscopy. The results show
asymmetric morphologies and autonomous movement under UV irradiation.
These micromotors can be useful for environmental applications such as
elimination of heavy metals from contaminated waters by adsorption
mechanism.
Keywords: Micromotors, ZnO, Magnetite
Presenting authors email: lqigustavo@gmail.com