Fabrication of single-phase superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles from factory waste soil

Abstract

The application of Iron (III) oxide nanoparticles in biology and medicine is much more than that of other magnetic nanoparticles. Biocompatibility with human body, stability, and ease of production are the main reasons for its considerable development during these years. In this study, single-phase iron (III) oxide nanoparticles were synthesized using factory waste soil instead of feedstock by the low-temperature wet chemical oxygen cleaving method. Using factory waste soil as the precursor material (feedstock) made the method cost-effective and innovative. In this synthesis method, singlephase iron (III) oxide was obtained by acid digestion of waste soil. The nanoparticles were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The crystallite size of nanoparticles was calculated by XRD peaks through Debye-Scherrer formula at 11 nm. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) images showed the spherical shape of nanoparticles with average size of 10 nm. Vibrating Sample Magnetometery (VSM) analysis was applied to determining the magnetic saturation and the size of nanoparticles, which was estimated at 9 nm. FTIR showed atomic bond between iron and oxygen (Fe-O) in nanoparticles. The results of XRD showed that the synthesized sample was cubic-spinel single-phase.