Understanding The Synthesis, Properties And Applications Of Iron Oxide Powder

Iron oxide nanoparticles or powder are nothing but pure form of oxides which measures from 1 to 100 nanometers. These are found in two main types which are Fe2O3 maghemite and Fe3O4 magnetite. These particles are highly acclaimed for their superparamagenetic properties, which are seldom found in any other metallic nanoparticles.

Maghemite holds inverse spinel structure, where it holds 4 unpaired electrons in its 3d shell whereas magnetite has 5 unpaired electrons which form Fe2+ and Fe3+ respectively. These are even denoted as the antiferromagnetic, ferrimagnetic and ferromagnetic states.

The synthesis of iron oxide powder for different application has been quite challenging. There are a lot of tough and complicated processes involved in it. As there are many things that should be taken care of while performing the synthesis such as perfect pH value, right choice of concentration, technique of mixing, temperature and rate of oxidation too.

The morphology of the so formed powder will primarily depend upon the adsorption of impurities, aggregation and nucleation growth.

Methods Used for Extraction of Iron Oxide Powder

There are three important methods used for the extraction of iron oxide nanoparticles and they are high temperature decomposition and organic precursors, microemulsion and co-precipitation. By far the most used method amongst these is co-precipitation. The main reason behind this is that, co-precipitation is said to be an inexpensive method when compared with the other two and can be carried out easily too.

Spherical magnetite of mean diameter ranging from 30 to 100 nm is extracted from Fe salts with the help of this method. There are many biomedical applications of this particle, as they are potentially non-toxic and biocompatible too.

Common Applications of Iron Oxide Powder

Popularly, these particles are used as catalyst, coating & coloring material, gas sensing material, impurity control agent, electromagnetic material and lot more. They are often used in industries like sectors like water purification, chemical industries, medicine and magnetic storage too.