Optimizing and control of effective synthesize parameters for Fe3O4 nanoparticles using response surface methodology

Abstract

Abstract To control Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles (Fe 3 O 4 NPs) size, different molar ratio of Fe 2+ and Fe 3+ as well as ammonium hydroxide (pH) was used to synthesize Fe 3 O 4 NPs through co-precipitation method. The Box–Behnken design was selected to explore the interaction between process parameters (factors) such as Fe 2+ molar ion, Fe 3+ molar ion and pH on the final size. The interactive effect between the process variables was evaluated by analysis of variance (ANOVA). The quadratic model predicted by the Box–Behnken design was significant with a P value of < 0.0001. The optimum synthesis conditions were predicted by the model indicating optimum size obtained using 1.00 mol Fe 2+ ion with 3.00 mol Fe 3+ ion with pH at 12.00. From the experiment, the particle size was 10 ± 2 nm at optimum conditions, while the model predicted a particle size of 6.80 nm. The magnetic properties of Fe 3 O 4 NPs were displayed typical ferromagnetic behavior with saturation magnetization value to be 49.729 emu/g. Finally, the optimized Fe 3 O 4 NPs showed about 80% removal of Congo red (CR) dye, which confirms their applicability in adsorption process for future applications.