Broccoli–like Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Synthesis in Presence of Surfactants and Using Them in the Removal of Water-Colored Contamination

Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) were synthesized by novel precipitation method as inverse spinel (Fe2O3. FeO). They are directly prepared without calcination under oxygen gas. The Fe3O4 NPs had been prepared by combining the iron sulfate solution with the aqueous mixture including sodium hydroxide and sodium nitrate, without and with using various surfactants such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), triton X100, cetrimonium bromide (CTAB) and cetramide (CT) as templates.  The FT-IR analysis demonstrated the Fe-O octahedral and tetrahedral bending at 744 cm-1 and 598 cm-1 respectively. The XRD analysis discovered  the mean crystal size of  Fe3O4 NPs is smaller than that presence of surfactants, and its value increment from 8.5 nm for Fe3O4 NPs to 21.55 nm, 22.53 nm, 27.66 nm, and 27.72 nm for Fe3O4 + Triton X-100, Fe3O4 + CT, Fe3O4 + SDS, and Fe3O4 + CTAB, respectively. SEM revealed their samples are nanoparticles and aggregated together like broccoli.  The possibility of using Fe3O4 NPs as magnetic adsorbents to remove the eosin yellow dye from aqueous solutions was successes and economy, due to collect by magnets without need for a long time to separate with centrifuge or filter paper. The maximum chemisorption of dye was 94.48 % using Fe3O4 NPs + CT at shaking 1hour, because CT has a positive part as a hydrophilic moiety and the used dye is acidic nature so will attract and dye easy removal, and the reuse reached to five times with efficiency depressed to 75.61 %.