Facile Auto-Combustion Synthesis and Characterization
of Stable Amorphous Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron (nZVI)
R. Pillaia, b, Ramdas Balanc, *, I. C. Lekshmib, and K. Milinab, c
a CoE Materials Science/Sensors and Nanoelectronics, Department of Chemistry,
CMR Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, 560037 India
b VTU Research Center, Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi, Karnataka, India
c Department of Physics, CMR Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, 560037 India
Correspondence to: *e-mail: balan.ramdas@gmail.com
Received 29 June, 2021
Abstract—Amorphous nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) was synthesized via facile auto-combustion reaction of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) with α-Fe2O3 in aqueous solution. The amount of NaBH4 for the combustion reaction was evaluated and optimized. The prepared nZVI were characterized by XRD, HRTEM, and EDS. Protective 2–3-nm oxide layer formed on the surface of nZVI core was found to suppresses the oxidation of iron and thus stabilize nZVI nanoparticles. Synthesized particles showed the ferromagnetic behavior suitable for biomedical and data storage applications.
Keywords: solution auto-combustion synthesis, sodium borohydride, α-Fe2O3, nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI), magnetic behavior
DOI: 10.3103/S1061386221040087