Synthesis and Characterization of Fe₃O₄ Nanoparticles Using Different Experimental Methods

This paper reports a comparative study on the synthesis of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles using three different methods, namely; Co-precipitation, Sonochemical and Solvothermal methods. Ferric chloride hexahydrate (FeCl₃.6H₂O) and Ferrous chloride tetrahydrate (FeCl₂.4H₂O) were used as the iron precursor for the Co-precipitation method; while, Ferrous sulphate Heptahydrate (FeCl₂.7H₂O) and Ferric chloride hexahydrate (FeCl₃.6H₂O) were used as the iron precursor for sonochemical and solvothermal synthesis methods, respectively. The effect of the experimental methods and the precursors used on the shape and size of the Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles were investigated using different characterization techniques. The chemical characterization of the samples were carried out using EDX. The size of the nanoparticles were determined using particle size analyzer. The SEM and TEM images were used study to the surface morphology of the produced nanoparticles. Finally, TGA was used to study the thermal stability of the prepared iron oxide nanoparticles.