ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Magnetic and structural characterization of magnetite nanoparticle chains in magnetoactic bacteria

Abstract: Magnetoactic bacteria are microorganisms that biomineralize Fe3+ into magnetite nanoparticles. These nanoparticles are arranged into chains inside the bacteria, creating magnetic dipoles, which are used by the bacteria to orientate in the Earth's magnetic field. TEM analysis of individual bacteria suggests that the magnetite particles reach sizes of 30-50 nm and that the chains are formed by 20-25 particles. The main goal of the current study is to determine the distributions of the particle and chain sizes of large ensembles of bacteria by Small Angle Neutron Scattering. Additionally, it is planned to analyze the magnetization behavior inside the particle chains in external magnetic fields. For these experiments it is necessary to differentiate between the nuclear and magnetic scattering distribution. Therefore polarized SANS will be applied.

Principal Investigator: Dr Philipp Bender
Local Contact: Dr Diego Alba Venero
Experimenter: Professor Luis Fernandez-Barquin
Experimenter: Miss Lourdes Marcano
Experimenter: Dr Ma Luisa Fdez-Gubieda

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1610214

ISIS Experiment Number: RB1610214

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Philipp Bender et al; (2016): Magnetic and structural characterization of magnetite nanoparticle chains in magnetoactic bacteria, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1610214

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.