Preparation of Magnetite Nanoparticles by Thermal Decomposition of Iron (III) Acetylacetonate with Oleic Acid as Capping Agent
The thermal decomposition of organometallic compounds was used to synthesize magnetite nanoparticles in high boiling point organic solvent containing stabilizing surfactants. Iron (III) acetylacetonate was used as the organometallic precursor in this work. Thermal decomposition of cationic metal center leads directly to the metal oxide, in the presence of 1,2-hexadecanediol, oleylamine, and oleic acid in diphenyl ether. Characterization with the Particle Size Analyzer (PSA) showed the size of the obtained magnetite nanoparticles was 2.1 ± 0.9 nm with polydispersity index of 0.327. The morphology and chemical structure of the obtained magnetite nanoparticle was characterized by using of Transmition Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Fourier-Transformed Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The application of magnetite nanoparticles in the industrial wastewater treatment was also discussed.