Mesoporous materials attracted great interest due to their huge surface area and adjustable pore sizes. One of the important mesoporous materials is SBA-15 and has larger pore size, hydrothermal stability and thicker walls than other mesoporous materials. In this study, SBA-15 is synthesized by using sol-gel technique and cobalt oxide nanoparticles are incorporated in mesochannels by direct method. SBA-15 was produced from the self-assembly of non-ionic triblock co-polymer (Pluronic 123) and tetra ethyl ortho silicate (TEOS). Then cobalt chloride and cobalt nitrate were added at different loading ratios with two different addition sequences / after polymer and after TEOS. The loading ratios are in Si/Co mols and these ratios are / 15, 10, 5, 3, 1.5, 1 and 0.75 in increasing cobalt amount loaded. Characterization of the produced materials was performed by Powder X-Ray Diffraction (PXRD), Infrared (FTIR) analysis. Nitrogen Phisisorption measurements (BET and BJH Methods) were used to examine the textural properties of produced materials. By means of Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) the micro structures of materials were investigated. From the PXRD studies it is observed that the long range order of pores is preserved at even high loading amounts for cobalt chloride addition after TEOS. Co3O4 (JCPDS card no: 42-1467) crystallites are observed for Si/Co mol loading ratios 3, 1.5, 1 and 0.75. Above these loading ratios cobalt oxide is highly dispersed in SBA-15-type structure. FTIR studies revealed the formation of condensed silica network. From the Nitrogen Phisisorption measurements it is observed that addition of cobalt salt decreases the BET surface area of produced materials. All Nitrogen Adsorption-Desorption Isotherms are Type-IV, and has H-1 hysteresis which is a fulfillment of mesoporous structures according to IUPAC classification. BET surface area of samples loaded with cobalt chloride after TEOS possessed higher surface area than other samples. TEM images proved that at loading ratios above 3 there were not any cobalt oxide nanoparticles, cobalt oxide is highly dispersed on silica surface whereas at loading ratios 3 and below there were cobalt oxide nanoparticles embedded in the mesochannels for the samples prepared by addition of cobalt chloride after TEOS.

M.Tech. (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences), Vaal University of Technology / This study reports the synthesis and characterization of cobalt oxide nanoparticles using a microwave technique and chemical precipitation with oxidation method. Cobalt complexes were prepared using carboxylic acids (acetic acid, heptanoic acid, and stearic acid) as ligands. The complexes were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Elemental analyses (EA). Cobalt oxide nanoparticles were synthesized from the complexes via a microwave-assisted technique. A precipitation oxidation preparation reaction was used varying different parameters like pH, time, oxidising agent, heating method and cobalt precursor. The use of the cobalt nitrate and cobalt acetate as cobalt precursors resulted in spherical and cubic nanoparticles respectively. Cobalt precursors containing a longer hydrocarbon chain length, for instance cobalt heptanoate, did not yield cobalt oxide nanoparticles with the precipitation oxidation reaction due non- solubility of the complex. Using cobalt acetate as precursor, an increase in the pH from 7.91 to 10.18 caused the cobalt oxide nanoparticles shape to become well defined cubes with a narrower size range and CoOOH needles formed when the pH was further increased to 12.26. The optimum pH of 10.18 yielded cubic cobalt oxide particles having an average size of 25.45 nm with a standard deviation of 6.12. The nanoparticle size decreased from 35.70 nm to 4.45 nm when the oxygen oxidant was replaced with hydrogen peroxide. Conventional heating with a hotplate yielded nanoparticles with a more homogenous shape and size than microwave heating. The size of the nanoparticles increased from 22.81 nm to 25.45 nm when reaction time changed from 16 hours to72 hours.

Les travaux de cette thèse ont été consacrés à la synthèse de nanoparticules magnétiques d'oxyde de fer et d'oxyde de cobalt et de nanoparticules coeur-coquille constituées d'un coeur d'oxyde de fer recouvert d'oxyde de cobalt et à l'élaboration de nanomatériaux - composites nanostructures carbonées/nanoparticules d'oxyde métallique - pour des applications dans le domaine biomédical et celui de l'énergie. Pour la synthèse des NPs, la forme et la taille des NPs sont fortement dépendantes des conditions de réaction (nature des ligands, des solvants, température de réaction ... ) , ce qui affecte leurs propriétés magnétiques. De plus, des simulations ont montré que les chaînes de stéarate peuvent désorber plus facilement les atomes de fer que les atomes de cobalt et se libérer pour former des germes, ce qui pourrait expliquer le comportement distinctif entre les deux complexes. Ces nanoparticules magnétiques ont été synthétisées à l'intérieur de nanotubes de carbone en deux étapes aboutissant à des taux de remplissage très importants. Après fonctionnalisation, ces nanocomposites ont été introduits dans de cellules tumorales et ont été magnétiquement manipulées. Ils se sont révélés être très efficaces en tant qu'agents de contraste en IRM mais également dans le domaine de l'hyperthermie (activation sous éclairage dans le domaine de !'Infrarouge proche). Enfin, de nouveaux composites à partir de nanoparticules de Nb20 5 et de graphène (ou NTCs) ont été synthétisés et des résultat~prometteurs ont été obtenus dans des tests de batterie lithium-ion : leur utilisation en tant qu'anode a permis d'obtenir des capacités réversibles de 260 mAh/g. / This thesis was focused on the synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles of iron oxide and cobalt oxide and core-shell nanoparticles, consisting of a cobalt oxide coated iron oxide and on the development of composite nanomaterials - nanostructures carbon /metal oxide nanoparticles - for applications in the biomedical field and the energy. For the synthesis of NPs, the shape and size of NPs are dependent of the reaction conditions, which further affect their magnetic properties. Meanwhile, simulation showed that stearate chains can desorb more easily from iron atoms and release to form seeds than from cobalt atoms, which might explain distinctive behavior between the bath complexes. Regarding nanostructures carbon/metal oxide nanoparticles hybrid materials, the properties of the filled magnetic CNTs as heat mediator for photothermal ablation and as contrast agent for MRI were then evaluated and promising results have been obtained. Last, new composite materials (Nb205 nanoparticles/graphene or NTCs) were synthesized and promising results were obtaines in lithium battery tests : their use as anode allowed obtaining reversible capacities of 260 mAh/g.