Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 17 (2020) 100280

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Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy

journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/scp

Green synthesis and characterization of iron oxide nanoparticles by

pheonix dactylifera leaf extract and evaluation of their antioxidant activity
J. Amin Ahmed Abdullah a, *, Laouini Salah Eddine b, Bouafia Abderrhmane b,
�lez c, A. Guerrero a, A. Romero c
M. Alonso-Gonza
a
Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Escuela Polit�ecnica Superior, Universidad de Sevilla, 41012, Sevilla, Spain
b
Department of Process Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Echahid Hamma Lakhdar University, El-Oued, 39000, Algeria
c
Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Facultad de Física, Universidad de Sevilla, 41012, Sevilla, Spain

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The development of green nanotechnology is generating research interest in the ecological biosynthesis of
Nanoparticles nanoparticles (NPs). In this study, the biosynthesis of stable iron nanoparticles was carried out using Phoenix
Iron oxide dactylifera L. extract which is able to reduce iron ions to iron nanoparticles. The process comprises maceration
Green synthesis
extraction overnight and heat treatment of the extract with iron chloride (FeCl3) at 70 � C for 1 h. X-ray
Phoenix dactylifera L.
diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were
Antioxidant activity
used for nanoparticle characterization. The stability of the bioreduced iron nanoparticle was analyzed using UV-
VIS absorption spectra, and their antioxidant and anti-radical activities were measured against PhosPhoMo­
lybdate (PPM) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH), respectively. The results demonstrate that ecological
biosynthesis of 2–30 nm stable iron nanoparticles of size with antioxidant activity can be achieved suggesting
their possible applications.

1. Introduction 2008/08) and the conversion of energy (Kim et al., 2010/10). In fact,
Iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe-NPs) are particularly interesting in modern
Nanoscience is the study of materials with one or more dimensions in nanotechnology research because of their unique properties, which
the range of 1–100 nm. These materials are produced by atom/molecule make them fit a wide range of applications (Teja and Koh, 2009/03;
organization or by the destruction of a macroscopic material. Nowadays, Laurent et al., 2008).
the manufacturing technology of nanomaterials is growing interest in The synthesis of nanoparticles is usually carried out by various
view of their widespread use for a variety of applications in many in­ chemical methods such as pyrolysis, sol-gel transition, supercritical fluid
dustrial sectors (Darroudi et al., 2014/11; Chaudhuri and Malodia, synthesis and chemical deposit in steam phase or by a variety of physical
2017/11) Among nanomaterials, nanoparticles (NPs) are especially methods such as engraving, mechanical milling, ablation laser, thermal
interesting due to their capacity to act as a bridge between macroscopic decomposition and lithography (Muthuchamy et al., 2020; Justin et al.,
materials and atomic structures. Macroscopic materials exhibit constant 2017). Most of these methods are expensive and/or require the use of
properties, regardless of their size and mass. However, the properties of toxic solvents (Ahila et al., 2018; Sun et al., 2011). On the other hand,
NPs depend on their size due to the great relative proportion of super­ great efforts have recently been made to use environmentally friendly
ficial atoms with respect to their volume. Nanoparticles, because of their methods for the synthesis of noble metal nanoparticles (Toropov and
specific and unique properties, are currently being used in many Vartanyan, 2019). Such effort has produced the so-called green
high-tech fields, such as the medical sector for diagnostics, antimicrobial methods, aiming for providing highly pure nanoparticles through sim­
purposes and drug delivery systems (Parveen et al., 2012/02; Gholami ple, economic and repetitive techniques.
et al., 2018/06), the electronics and optoelectronics industry (Phillips This is mainly achieved through the use of plant or fruit extracts
et al., 2011), the chemical sector for catalysis (Shiju and Guliants, (Ghodake et al., 2010) and bio-organisms (Sanghi and Verma, 2009)
2009/03), for the protection of the environment (Ju-Nam and Lead, along with polyphenols, which catalyze the synthesis of nanoparticles

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: johabd@alum.us.es (J.A.A. Abdullah).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scp.2020.100280
Received 8 April 2020; Received in revised form 16 May 2020; Accepted 23 May 2020
Available online 9 June 2020
2352-5541/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
J.A.A. Abdullah et al. Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 17 (2020) 100280

thanks to their unique properties (nucleophilia, reducing character, necessary. This section describes the conditions under which the char­
polarizability, ability to form hydrogen bond, acidity and ability to acterizations were performed.
chelate metal ions) (Zayed and Eisa, 2014). These green methods are
inexpensive, fast, effective and generally lead to the formation of crys­ 2.3.1. X-Ray diffraction (XRD)
talline nanoparticles with a variety of shapes (spheres, stems, prisms, The different sized nanoparticles were characterized by XRD in order
plates, needles, leaves or dendrites) and sizes. These characteristics to determine more precisely which crystalline phase was present in the
depend mainly on the parameters used in the process, such as the nature nanoparticles. The XRD also provides information about the mesh
of the plant extract, the relative concentrations of the extract and the parameter of the formed Fe2O3, as well as the average size of the dif­
metal salts, the pH, the temperature and the reaction time, as well as the fracting domains. To perform this test, they were mixed with silicon
mixing rate of vegetable extract and metallic salts (Noruzi et al., 2011). powder. The silicon diffraction peaks serve as an internal standard to
Phoenix dactylifera L. is one of the plants with higher polyphenol determine the zero shift of the zero diffractograms. The data was refined
content. They are considered bioactive molecules and act both as a with the Full prof software (Rodríguez-Carvajal, 1993),which uses the
reducing and capping agent. For this reason, it has gained immense Le Bail method (Le Bail et al., 1988).
popularity in various fields from therapeutics to food additives. The size of the diffracting domains was also measured on the most
Although its use as an antioxidant additive is restricted, these properties intense peak (311) using the Debye-Scherrer formula (Equation (4)), a
could lead to the synthesis of nanoparticles with different and unique method often used in the literature.
properties (Bayraktar et al., 2017; Gajanan et al., 2011).
kλ
The overall objective of this work was to study the synthesis of Fe- t ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi (4)
H 2 S2 ⋅cosθ
NPs using Phoenix dactylifera L. extract and to characterize these nano­
particles using XRD, SEM, UV visible and FTIR to demonstrate that the with t being the size of the diffracting domain, k a correction factor (¼
iron oxide nanoparticles synthesized by this procedure contain certain 0.9), λ the wavelength used, H the width at half-height of the principal
compounds with antioxidant activity and that, therefore, they could be peak of the sample, S the width at half-height of the main peak from the
used as natural antioxidant additives in pharmaceutical and food reference (for monocrystalline Si, S ¼ 0.289) and θ the position of the
products. main peak.

2. Materials and methodology 2.3.2. Characterization of nanoparticles by scanning electron microscopy

(SEM)
2.1. Materials The SEM was mainly used to obtain two types of information: the size
(diameter distribution average) and morphology of synthesized. It was
Iron(III) chloride hexahydrate 98% (FeCl3⋅6H2O), methanol performed with a scanning electron microscope SEM-TESCAN device
(CH3OH), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), sodium phosphate (Na2HPO4), ammo­ model VEGA3 (Tescan, Czech Republic) at 10 KV. The images of three
nium molybdate ((NH4)3PMo12O40), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl samples were recorded at different magnifications. Localized elemental
(DPPH), gallic acid (C7H6O5), hydrochloric acid (HCl) and dimethyl information of Fe-NPs was determined by ImageJ (Bibi et al., 2017).
sulfoxide anhydrous (DMSO) 99.9% (C2H6SO) were purchased from
Sigma Aldrich. All other chemicals and reagents used in this study were 2.3.3. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)
of analytical grade. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) makes it possible to
The Phoenix dactylifera L. plants were collected from Texebt EL-Oued obtain information on the structure of the nanoparticles (NPs) from the
province, Algeria. modes of vibration of the bonds present in Fe-NPs.
The NPs from 0.03 M, 0.02 M and 0.01 M FeCl3 were characterized
2.2. Phoenix leaf extract and nanoparticle manufacture by FTIR and compared with the Phoenix dactylifera. L. extract using
magnetite and maghemite as references to identify the structure present
The Phoenix leaf extract was prepared by the following method in the samples. Three different zones can be distinguished globally:
(Bouafia and Laouini, 2020/04; Bouafia et al., 2020): a handful of those whose absorbance bands can be attributed to the superficial alkyl
Phoenix leaves were thoroughly well washed, dried under solar radia­ chains (3000-2800 cm 1), to the COO- group of oleates (1800-900 cm1)
tion for two weeks, and subsequently milled (with an electric coffee and to the Fe–O bonds (800-400 cm 1) in Fe2O3 (Ayachi et al., 2015).
grinder model DCG-12BC) and sieved to obtain a fine powder (with sizes
lower than 30 μm). Then, 100 g of this powder was added to 800 mL of 2.3.4. UV–visible spectroscopy
water/methanol solution (1:8), keeping the system under magnetic This technique consists in detecting and quantifying the intensity of
stirring overnight. The resulting solution was centrifuged at 4000 rpm radiation whose wavelength varies between 200 and 1400 nm. The
for 10 min and the supernatant was collected (extract). sample can absorb, reflect or transmit the photons emitted. In the case of
Separately, 0.4 M iron chloride (FeCl3) solution was prepared in an solutions, the electronic spectrum is the function that connects the light
initial volume of 250 mL, to which 0.43 mL of HCl 0.01 M was added intensity absorbed by the sample analyzed according to the wavelength.
along with distilled water. In this way, three different diluted concen­ In the case of solid samples (powder), diffuse reflectance measurement
trations of this mixed solution (0.03 M, 0.02 M, and 0.01 M) were pre­ should be used. It measures the light reflected on the surface of the
pared. After that, 50 mL of each sample was mixed with 50 mL of the sample in all directions (Benavente-Garcıa et al., 2000). The reflectance
obtained extract and the resulting solutions (100 mL) were transferred values can be related to the absorption of the solid by the Kubelka-Munk
into beakers and heated in a hot plate at 70 � C for 1 h. A final heat method (Bragg and Bragg, 1913), using Equation (1):
treatment at 400 � C for 1 h was carried out to remove the excess matter
present in the sample leaving only the nanoparticles for further char­ α¼
1 R
(1)
acterization. This protocol was developed from previous studies (data 2R
not shown).
where α is the absorption coefficient and R is the reflectance.
For an indirect gap semiconductor such as TiO2, the gap value (Eg )
2.3. Characterization techniques
can be obtained from Tauc’s relation [30] Equation (2)
�
Given the nanometric and crystalline nature of the materials syn­ αhv ¼ B h Eg (2)
thesized in this study, the use of several experimental methods was

2
J.A.A. Abdullah et al. Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 17 (2020) 100280

where h is Planck’s constant, v the frequency and B is a constant. The The evaluation of the antioxidant capacity was carried out as follows:
UV–vis analysis allows us to indirectly measure the absorbance of our 0.5 mL of a methanolic solution of DPPH (7.8 mg of DPPH in 100 mL of
samples and to calculate their optical gap. DMSO) was mixed with 0.3 mL of the nanoparticles dissolved in DMSO
(0.5 mg/mL). Then, the resulting mixture was kept away from light at
room temperature for 30 min. After that, the absorbance was measured
2.4. Determination of the antioxidant activity at 517 nm against a control consisting of 0.5 mL of the DPPH solution
and 0.3 mL of methanol (Basavegowda et al., 2014b). The value for the
The antioxidant potential was carried out by determining the prod­ control was A0 ¼ 0.382.
ucts resulting from the oxidation or by evaluating the ability to trap By varying the concentration of the extracts and calculating the
radicals of reaction models. Two methods were used to evaluate the corresponding IC (%) for each concentration, it is possible to establish a
antioxidant activity of NPs: Total antioxidant activity (TAC) and DPPH linear regression between the different concentrations and the IC (%).
antioxidant activity. The inhibition of the DPPH radical is a function of the concentration of
The first, older method requires prior knowledge of oxidation com­ the different NPs synthesized (antioxidant). The anti-radical activity
pounds. Indeed, this method looks for certain functional groups (alde­ may be expressed in terms of the IC50 (mg/mL), that is, the anti-radical
hydes, ketones, dicarbonyls, etc.) in the derivatives of the original dose necessary to cause 50% inhibition. All the results presented are
constituents. The second method relates the number of radicals trapped average values from three replicates. From this regression, the corre­
to that of antioxidants used. sponding value of IC50 is calculated.

2.4.1. Evaluation of total antioxidant activity (TAC)

The TAC test (PhosPhoMolybdate) is a variant of the DPPH test. 2.5. Statistical analysis
During this test, the hydrogen and the electron are transferred from the
reducing compound (antioxidant extract) to the oxidizing complex At least three replicates of each measurement were made in order to
(PPM). This transfer depends on the redox potential, the pH of the me­ obtain a reliable comparison of the results. The standard deviations of
dium and the structure of the antioxidant compound. some selected parameters were calculated, and the significant differ­
The molybdate phosphate analysis was carried out using the ences were estimated.
following protocol: 100 mL of a mixed solution (0.6 M sulfuric acid
(H2SO4), 28 mM sodium phosphate (Na2HPO4) and 4 mM ammonium 3. Results and discusion
molybdate ((NH4)3PMo12O40) were prepared. A solution containing 0.1
mg/mL of gallic acid in distilled water was used along with HCl 0.5 M to 3.1. Characterization of nanoparticles by X-ray diffraction (XRD)
prepare 1 mL of six diluted solutions containing different concentrations
of gallic acid (0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04 and 0.05 mg/mL). The aim in this section was to verify whether a larger nanoparticle
Then, 0.3 mL of each NPs (dissolved in HCl) was added to 3 mL of the size, made the composition of the spinel phase to be closer to that of
reagent mix solution. The mixture was placed in a water bath at 95 � C for magnetite, in accordance with the results reported in the literature
60 min. After that, the mixture was left to cool down in order to read the (Noruzi et al., 2011; Bayraktar et al., 2017; Gajanan et al., 2011). The
absorbance, which was measured at 695 nm (Basavegowda et al., X-ray diffractograms of the powders synthesized by the Phoenix extract
2014a). at 70 � C and heat-treated at 400 � C are shown in Fig. 1.
The evaluation of the antioxidant activity of NPs was compared with The intensity of the diffraction peaks indicates good crystallinity of
gallic acid, which is used as an antioxidant in the food industry. Thus, the nanoparticles. All diffraction peaks observed in the diffractogram
0.3 mL of the diluted gallic acid (0.1 mg/mL) was added to 3 mL of the can be attributed to the spinel structure. According to Ayachi et al.
reagent mix. The standard curve was prepared using known concen­ (2015), the peaks observed at 32 and 56.16� may be attributed to the
trations of 0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03 0.04 and 0.05 mg/mL of gallic acid crystallographic planes (221) and (510) of the corundum structure of the
(Basavegowda et al., 2014a). crystalline phase α-Fe2O3, while the peaks observed values of 30.25� ,
35.45� ,43.20� ,53.39� , 57.26� , and 62.90� correspond to the planes of
2.4.2. DPPH antioxidant activity evaluation test (220), (311), (400), (422), (511), and (440) structure of the crystalline
The DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl) test is a widely used
method in the analysis of antioxidant activity. Indeed, DPPH is charac­
terized by its ability to produce stable free radicals. This stability is due
to the delocalization of free electrons within the molecule. The presence
of these DPPH radicals gives rise to a dark violet coloring of the solution,
absorbing radiation at around 517 nm. The reduction of the DPPH
radicals by an antioxidant causes discoloration of the test solution.
Among the numerous ways to express this measure, the inhibition
percentage and/or the standard polyphenol equivalence obtained by
UV–Visible spectroscopy were chosen. The inhibition percentage (IC)
can be used to evaluate the antioxidant activity of the sample according
to Equation (3)
� �
A B
ICð%Þ ¼ ⋅ ​ 100 (3)
A

where A is the absorbance of the oxidized solution in the absence of

antioxidant agents and B is the absorbance of the oxidized solution in the
presence of antioxidant agents.
The method for the evaluation of the antioxidant activity as a func­
tion of the equivalence of standard polyphenols consists in comparing
the absorbance of the samples with that of a calibration line which re­ Fig. 1. XRD spectrum of the Fe-NPs synthesized by the Phoenix dactylifera. L.
lates the absorbance to the concentration in standards. extract at 70 � C heat-treated at 400 � C for1h.

3
J.A.A. Abdullah et al. Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 17 (2020) 100280

phase Fe3O4. 3.3. Characterization by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)

The mesh parameter calculated for the stoichiometric maghemite is
8.336, while that of the stoichiometric magnetite is 8.396 Å. These re­ Infrared spectroscopy allows a qualitative assessment of the pro­
sults are very close to the values of previous studies (JCPDS Card No. portion of magnetite and maghemite in the nanoparticles formed,
88–0866) (Santoyo Salazar et al., 2011). Yang et al. showed that the although it is not able to precisely quantify the proportion of each phase.
mesh parameter varies linearly as a function of the deviation from Fig. 3 shows the infrared spectrum of 0.01 M, 0.02 M and 0.03 M
stoichiometry, δ, of the Fe3-δO4 magnetite (Santoyo Salazar et al., 2011). nanoparticles, in comparison with the extract, in the 900-400 cm 1
The mesh parameter can thus be qualitatively used to determine range. To indicate the biomolecules responsible for the reduction of the
whether the nanoparticles are rather constituted by magnetite or metal precursors and capping of Fe-NPs, the range 3500–3200 cm 1
maghemite. indicates the vibrational stretching of OH polyphenolic group of Phoenix
In addition, the three samples (0.01, 0.02 and 0.03 M) of Fe2O3, dactylifera L., with an intensive band at 3416 cm 1. This band undergoes
Fe3O4-NPs with an average size of 22.16 � 0.70, 6.7 � 0.6 and 2.3 � 0.1 a shift to 3375 cm 1 and becomes broader upon interaction with iron
nm, respectively, were obtained under conditions similar to those used salt. The FTIR showed bands around 1643 cm 1 that could be attributed
for magnetite (Ayachi et al., 2015). to the stretching vibration of C ¼ C and – C– – O groups or to aromatic
Subsequently, the composition results obtained by XRD were ring deformation (Kumar et al., 2013). The reduction of FeCl3 into
compared with those obtained by infrared spectroscopy. Fe-NPs caused the 1643 cm 1 IR absorption band of Phoenix dactylifera.
L to be split into more peaks at 1653, 1633 and 1623 cm 1. This in­
3.2. Characterization of nanoparticles by scanning electron microscope dicates that during the formation of Fe-NPs, there is coordination be­
(SEM) tween Fe3þ, Fe2þ ions and the oxygen atoms of – OH groups and/or –
C–– C, groups (Bibi et al., 2017; Ayachi et al., 2015). Moreover, the
Fig. 2 shows the morphology and sizes of Fe2O3, Fe3O4-NPs. The SEM 800-400 cm 1 zone characteristic of the Fe–O bond, was analyzed. The
image of Fig. 2 (a,b,c) for the three samples (0.01, 0.02 and 0.03 M) of maghemite and magnetite phases each have characteristic Fe–O bands
Fe2O3, Fe3O4-NPs respectively, exhibit NPs with a spherical shape hav­ that can be identified. Magnetite (Fe3O4) had a broad band with a
ing uniform flower-like features in agglomerated form. The sphere sur­ maximum at 573 cm 1 and a shoulder around 700 cm 1 attributed to
face is covered by flower-like architecture, which is built from several surface oxidation. The spectrum of maghemite is more complex, with six
nano-sheets (Bibi et al., 2017). In addition, this agglomeration can be bands in the 800-500 cm 1 range, with the strongest band at 638 cm 1
attributed to the presence of biological compounds on the surface of (Le Bail et al., 1988; Benavente-Garcıa et al., 2000).
particles. The particle size distribution shown in Fig. 2d reveals a uni­ All three NPs had a broad band whose peaks were concentrated at
form distribution with an average diameter of about 12.61 nm. wavelengths between those of magnetite and maghemite. In addition,
the nanoparticles had two rather intense peaks at 719 and 729 cm 1 that
were not present in the spectrum of magnetite or maghemite. These

Fig. 2. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of Fe-NPs synthesized by Phoenix dactylifera. L. extract at 70 � C treated at 400 � C for 1h, 0.01 M (a), 0.02 M (b),
0.03 M (c), the diameter distribution average for the three samples (d).

4
J.A.A. Abdullah et al. Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 17 (2020) 100280

Fig. 3. FTIR spectrum of the Fe-NPs synthesized by Phoenix dactylifera. L. extract at 70 � C treated at 400 � C for 1h compared with the extract.

peaks are attributed to Fe–O bonds in iron stearate, which shows the 3.4. Characterization by UV–visible spectroscopy
difficulty and importance of the washing stage (Ayachi et al., 2015).
There can also remain a fraction of the synthesis precursor in the The optical properties (absorbance) of the nanoparticles synthesized
nanoparticle suspensions. As a result, the nanoparticles had an inter­ by the Phoenix extract as well as the NPs (0.01 M, 0.02 and 0.03 M)
mediate composition between magnetite and maghemite, and as the size treated at 400 � C are shown in Fig. 4, which. represents the diffuse
of the nanoparticles increased, the proportion of magnetite also reflectance of the nanoparticles in the UV–visible spectra. In addition to
increased. 225 and 275 nm, a broad absorption band was observed throughout the
spectral range, especially between 350 and 500 nm for the three spectra.

Fig. 4. UV–visible spectrum of the absorbance of Fe-NPs synthesized by Phoenix dactylifera. L. extract at 70 � C treated at 400 � C for 1h compared with the extract.

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J.A.A. Abdullah et al. Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 17 (2020) 100280

The absorption band around 350 nm corresponds to the gap of magnetite Table 1
(Tartaj et al., 2003). However, the synthesized Fe3O4-NPs show a Results for the total antioxidant activity and IC50 DPPH values for the different
continuous absorption in the visible range of 300–800 nm without any NPs (0.01, 0.02 and 0.03 M).
strong absorption peak (Ghodake et al., 2010; Sanghi and Verma, 2009). NPs IC50 DPPH (mg/ml) Total antioxidant activity PPM NPs (mg/g)
The gap energies calculated by the Kabulka-Munk law are 2.39, 2.27 0.03 2.0 77
and 2.49 eV for Fe3O4 corresponding to the NPs obtained at different 0.02 4.0 170
concentrations (0.01, 0.02 and 0.03 M), which is probably due to the 0.01 26.4 180
effect of the quantum confinement related to their nanometric size. In
fact, the position of the resonance bands varies significantly with the size
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
(Ayachi et al., 2015).
the work reported in this paper.
3.5. Evaluation of the antioxidant activity
CRediT authorship contribution statement
The antioxidant activity of NPs synthesized by the extract of Phoenix
J. Amin Ahmed Abdullah: Writing - original draft, Formal analysis.
dactylifera L. reflects their ability to trap free radicals in the body.
Laouini Salah Eddine: Writing - original draft, Formal analysis.
The anti-free radical activity is achieved by the DPPH method, which
Bouafia Abderrhmane: Writing - original draft, Formal analysis. M.
is frequently used due to its simplicity. Table 1 shows IC50 DPPH values
Alonso-Gonza �lez: Writing - original draft, Formal analysis. A. Guer­
for the NPs. From the results obtained, the synthesized NPs at 0.03 M
rero: Writing - original draft, Formal analysis. A. Romero: Writing -
FeCl3 gives the most significant antioxidant activity, with a value of 2.0
original draft, Formal analysis.
mg/ml.
Table 1 also shows the high values for the total antioxidant activity of
Acknowledgments
Fe2O3, Fe3O4-NPs green synthetic nanoparticles (TAC). The highest and
lowest total antioxidant activity of the different nanoparticle concen­
This work is part of a project funded by the Spanish Ministry of
trations were 180 mg EAG/g NPs (0.01 M NPs) and 77 mg EAG/g NPs
“Ciencia, Innovacio�n y Universidades” (RTI2018-097100-B-C21). The
(0.03 M). This could illustrate the relationship between concentration
authors gratefully acknowledge their financial support. The authors also
and antioxidant activity, suggesting that, at low concentration, the de­
acknowledge the “Cooperacio �n al Desarrollo, Universidad de Sevilla” for
gree of inhibition of both DPPH and TAC is much higher than at high
the pre-doctoral grant from Johar Amin Ahmed Abdullah (CODE).
concentration.

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Declaration of competing interest Gholami, L., Kazemi Oskuee, R., Tafaghodi, M., Ramezani Farkhani, A., Darroudi, M.,
2018/06/01/2018. Green facile synthesis of low-toxic superparamagnetic iron oxide
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial

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