SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NANOSCALE IRON OXIDE PARTICLES FOR DYE DE-COLORIZATION PROCESS
AL.Kavitha, A.Subhashini , H. Gurumallesh Prabu
Abstract
We report preparation and catalytic activity of Iron oxide nano materials. Iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by coprecipitation, self-assembled and microwave methods, and resulted size achieved in nanoscale. The synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, SEM and AFM. XRD was used to determine the crystal structure and average particle size. FT-IR was used to confirm the iron oxide nanoparticles. SEM images were obtained to observe the morphology of the iron oxide nanoparticles. Among the three forms of iron oxides synthesized, α-Fe2O3 is found to be a better dye decolourizing agent and used for extra studies. The synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles were used for catalytic degradation of synthetic dye Direct Red 7. Chromaticity variation and degradation products formed by catalysis were analyzed using UV-Visible and HPLC techniques.
Keywords: Iron oxide, nanoparticles, catalyst, Direct Red 7, Dye degradation