Detection of iron oxide nanoparticles in petroleum hydrocarbon media by single-particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICP-MS)

Engineered iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized with a silica shell using a modified alkylsilane approach with o-xylene, as a hydrocarbon media, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and single-particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICP-MS) were used to determine the particle size of the Fe3O4 core diameter. In contrast, mass concentrations of the Fe3O4 particles were determined using spICP-MS, using helium (He) as a collision gas to control spectral interferences from ArO and CaO on Fe at m/z 56. Different cell gas flow rates (3, 3.5, and 4 mL/min) and NP’s solution dilution factors from 1:20,000 up to 1:60,000 were investigated; He flow rate of 4 mL/min and a dilution factor of 1:20,000 were found as optimum. The spICP-MS method was calibrated by using gold nanospheres (polystyrene-coated) in toluene as reference material. For the engineered Fe3O4 nanoparticles, TEM. Results gave a (63 ± 6 nm) value for the Fe2O3 core diameter, while spICP-MS was 61.1 ± 4.5 nm (n = 36), demonstrating the excellent agreement among methods. The method was applied for the analysis Fe oxide NPs in petroluem hydrocarbon materials and data compared with TEM. Two standard reference materials (SRMs); NIST 2717a sulfur in residual fuel oil and NIST 8505 vanadium in crude oil were selected. spICP-MS results agreed pretty well among these techniques. These findings suggest that spICP-MS could be useful to characterize Fe-containing particles in complex solution media, such as petroleum hydrocarbons. Graphical abstract