Magnetic nanoparticle film reconstruction modulated by immersion within DMSA aqueous solution

The process of reconstruction of pre-fabricated films comprising maghemite nanoparticles deposited onto flat glass substrates triggered by immersion into aqueous solutions of meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) at increasing concentration (0.025, 0.050, and 0.100 mol/L) is herein reported. The evolution of this process was assessed by measuring the time (t) dependence of the particle analysis histogram width (W) extracted from atomic force microscopy images. Furthermore, a physical picture to model the film reconstruction which provides reconstruction time constants associated to single particles (τ(1)) and small agglomerates (τ(n)), the key units associated to the process, ranging from τ(1) = 2.9 and τ(n) = 3.4 hour (0.025 mol/L) to τ(1) = 5.1 and τ(n) = 4.6 hour (0.100 mol/L) is proposed. The nanoparticle-based film reconstruction triggered by an exogenous stimulus, the use of the W versus t data to describe the process and the model picture accounting for the recorded data have not been previously reported.