Microstructural evaluation of iron oxide nanoparticles at different calcination temperature by Scherrer, Williamson-Hall, Size-Strain Plot and Halder-Wagner methods

Ferric nitrate Fe(NO3)3 ⋅9H2O as a precursor and Ethylene Glycol as a solvent were used to prepare iron oxide nanoparticle via sol gel method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) study of IONPs at different calcination temperatures to determine the size of the crystallite was performed using various methods of calculation: Scherrer, Williamson-Hall (W-H), Halder-Wagner (H-W) and Size-Strain plot (SSP). The Scherrer and H-W methods reveal that the crystallite size decreases in the presence of a single phase (γ-Fe2O3) at lower temperature, as the contribution of other-phase (α-Fe2O3) increases size varies, but again decreases as the material converts to a single phase, while with temperature, the Size-Strain Plot and Halder-Wagner Method show increased crystallite size. FE-SEM and HR-TEM investigations confirm that the synthesized IONPs are spherical. EDX spectra and FTIR analyses have shown that synthesized particles are pure iron oxide nanoparticles. The average particle size calculated using different models below than 20 nm.