Grafting of diazonium salts on oxides surface: formation of aryl-O bonds on iron oxide nanoparticles

Combining ab initio modeling and ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectrometry, we characterized the nature of the chemical linkage of aminoalkyl arenediazonium salt on the surface of iron oxide nanoparticles. We established that it is built through a metal–oxygen–carbon bonding and not a metal–carbon one, as usually suggested and commonly observed in previously studied metal- or carbon-based surfaces