Synthesis of Iron Oxide Using Ferrous and Ferric Sulfate

The chemical formula of magnetite ($Fe_3O_4$) is $FeO{\cdot}Fe_2O_3$, t magnetite being composed of divalent ferrous ion and trivalent ferric ion. In this study, the influence of the coexistence of ferrous and ferric ion on the formation of iron oxide was investigated. The effect of the co-precipitation parameters (equivalent ratio and reaction temperature) on the formation of iron oxide was investigated using ferric sulfate, ferrous sulfate and ammonia. The equivalent ratio was varied from 0.1 to 3.0 and the reaction temperature was varied from 25 to 75. The concentration of the three starting solutions was 0.01mole. Jarosite was formed when equivalent ratios were 0.1-0.25 and jarosite, goethite, magnetite were formed when equivalent ratios were 0.25-0.6. Single-phase magnetite was formed when the equivalent ratio was above 0.65. The crystallite size and median particle size of the magnetite decreased when the equivalent ratio was increased from 0.65 to 3.0. However, the crystallite size and median particle size of the magnetite increased when the reaction temperature was increased from $25^{\circ}C$ to $75^{\circ}C$. When ferric and ferrous sulfates were used together, the synthetic conditions to get single phase magnetite became simpler than when ferrous sulfate was used alone because of the co-existence of $Fe^{2+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$ in the solution.

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