Abstract
Abstract In this research, we tried several different precipitation processes to synthesize Fe3O4 nanoparticles with different morphologies. We used only one precursor, i.e. FeSO4, which was oxidized to ferric sulfate by hydrogen peroxide. The two solutions were then mixed in appropriate ratio to obtain Fe3O4 using NaOH as the precipitant. TX-100 was used as a protective agent to keep the particles uniform. When both iron precursor solution and NaOH solution was pumped separately into TX-100 solution, spherical Fe3O4, uniform in size, was obtained. On the other hand, a two-step procedure, with the addition of molecules such as IPA, EG (ethylene glycol) or glycerol, we would get Fe3O4 particles in needle shape and also having complete (100%) conversion. The powders were then characterized by techniques such as XRD, SQUID, HRTEM, SEM, BET to obtain information on many characteristics of powders, such as size and uniformity, particle morphology, magnetic property, specific surface area, crystallinity, etc.. It is our hope to find correlation between these characteristics and processing conditions. These powders will be further processed as electrode materials and tested in a battery to find optimal performance. For silver coated magnetic particles, we used AgNO3 and either IPA or EG as reducing agent and spherical Fe3O4 nanoparticles as core. The relative ratio between AgNO3 and Fe3O4 was varied with the objective to get uniform coating. The powders thus obtained was also subjected to several characterization techniques to get information on coating uniformity, crystalline nature, and magnetic property.