Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India
*Corresponding Author Email: rdsingh55@gmail.com
Online published on 17 February, 2017.
The aim of this work was to compare co-precipitation and sol-gel synthesis methods to prepare hematite particles of desired sizes and their characterization by X-Ray Diffraction, Transmission Electron Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and particle size analysis. The protocols involved use of Cetyal Trimethyl ammonium bromide and citric acid that provided stability to the particle and did overcome the agglomeration. Stable nano hematite particles were obtained using both the protocols. X-ray diffraction showed that the synthesised hematite particles were crystalline in nature. Crystallite sizes were between 41 and 43 nm, Transmission electron microscopy images showed individual particles in less than 100 nm but agglomerated also observed in sol-gel method. The absorption spectra too confirmed presence of Fe-O stretching by vibration band @ 546 in both the particles. Zeta potential (dispersion stability) did not vary with synthesis protocol.
