Magnetic iron oxide particles (Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>) fabricated by ball milling for improving the environmental quality
Andrew Erwin, S. Salomo, P. Adhy, Ni Made Dwi Paramita Utari, W E S Ayu, Y. Wita, S. Nani
Abstract
Nowadays magnetic iron oxide particles (Fe3O4) have been extensively used as nanomaterials due to their broad range of applications. One of their applications is to improve the environmental quality by elimination of harmful pollutants in wastewater. Therefore, preparation method of magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles is one of the most important keys to its adsorption efficiency. This study aims to prepare magnetite nanoparticles from natural iron sand of Arta Beach, Pariaman, West Sumatera using ball milling technique. This technique is simple and easy to carry out. The balls used in this milling are the iron balls with the diameter of 1.5 cm. The phase composition, elemental composition, microstructure and magnetic properties of milled powder of magnetic particles were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) respectively. The results showed that the milling time is a key parameter of the magnetite nanoparticles preparation. By increasing the milling time, then high purity magnetite samples can be obtained. Moreover, the magnetic particle size of the sample decreases as the milling time increases. The SEM micrographs showed that the sample has a broad distribution of particle diameters, ranging from around 1 up to 107 μm and 0.5 to 36 μm after 30 and 90 hours of milling respectively.