Preparation of single-phase α-Fe(III) oxide nanoparticles by thermal decomposition. Influence of the precursor on properties

Abstract

In this research, we present an experimental procedure to prepare single-phase α-Fe(III) oxide nanoparticles by thermal decomposition of five different precursors including: iron(III) citrate; Fe(C6H5O7), iron(III) acetylacetonate; Fe(C5H7O2)3, and iron(III) oxalate; Fe(C2O4)3, iron(III) acetate; Fe(C2H3O2)3, and the thermal curves obtained were analyzed. The influence of the thermal decomposition of precursors on the formation α-Fe2O3 was studied by differential thermal gravimetry and thermogravimetry. The synthesized powders were characterized by using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. High quality iron oxide nanoparticles with narrow size distribution and average particle size between ca. 2 and 30 nm have been obtained. It was found that the iron precursors affect the temperatures of the pure α-Fe2O3 nanoparticle formation with different diameters; iron(III) citrate (29 nm), iron(III) acetylacetonate (37 nm), and iron(III) oxalate (24 nm).