Effect of nucleating agents and stabilisers on the synthesis of Iron-Oxide Nanoparticles-XRD analysis

Abstract

Iron nanoparticles were made by using the modified coprecipitation technique. Usually the characteristics of synthesised particles depend upon the process parameters such as the ratio of the iron ions, the pH of the solution, the molar concentration of base used, type of reactants and temperature. A modified coprecipitation method was adopted in this study. A magnetic stirrer was used for mixing and the morphology and nature of particles were observed after synthesis. Nanoparticles were characterised through XRD. Obtained nanoparticles showed the formation of magnetite and maghemite under citric acid and oxalic acid as stabilisers respectively. The size of nanoparticle was greatly affected by the use of different types of stabilisers. Results show that citric acid greatly reduced the obtained particle size. Particle size as small as 13 nm was obtained in this study. The effects of different kinds of nucleating agents were also observed and two different types of nucleating agents were used i.e. potassium hydroxide (KOH) and copper chloride (<TEX>$CuCl_2$</TEX>). Results show that the use of nucleating agent in general pushes the growth phase of nanoparticles towards the end of coprecipitation reaction. The particles obtained after addition of nucleating agent were greater in size than particles obtained by not utilising any nucleating agent. These particles have found widespread use in medical sciences, energy conservation and electronic sensing technology.