Improving the physicochemical properties of NaCl-assisted solution combustion synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles by controlling the thermodynamics of the process

Abstract

Salt-assisted solution combustion synthesis (SSCS) method is a promising technique for synthesizing various nanopowders with ultra-fine particle size and high surface area. It is known that the introduced soluble salt into the synthesis process plays a role as a particle separator which leads to the particle size reduction. However, the potential effects of soluble salts on the thermodynamic aspects of SSCS procedure and the other physical and chemical properties of the obtained nanopowders have not been investigated in detail. In this study, various amounts of sodium chloride (1–15mol for obtaining 0.3mol iron oxide) were introduced to the iron nitrate-glycine system to investigate effect of alkali metal salt on the thermodynamics aspects of the synthesis process and the final properties of the prepared nanoparticles. Obtained results indicated that the phase composition of the synthesized nanopowders was varied from a mixture of Fe3O4+α-Fe2O3 to γ-Fe2O3+α-Fe2O3, and eventually to single-phase α-Fe2O3 by increasing the amount of sodium chloride. Such phase transformation suggested that the phase composition of multi-phase compounds prepared via SSCS method can be controlled by sodium chloride. Ultra-fine powders with 9 nm particle size and surface area of 148 m2/g were obtained when 11mol sodium chloride was used in the synthesis process. Magnetization of the synthesized nanoparticles were decreased from 34emu/g to 2.7emu/g due to the decrement of particle size. The combusted single-phase hematite nanopowders were submitted to the 100 mL nickel ion (Ni2+) solution with the ion concentration of 50 mg/L to explore the effect of salt on the adsorption activity of the nanoparticles. 0.4g of the synthesized powders adsorbed ~90% of the nickel ions within 120 min. Note that the removal percentage of the nickel ion using the synthesized hematite nanoparticle (90%) was higher than that of prepared hematite powders in the previous studies (35%).