Synthesis of Nanocrystalline Barium Ferrite in Ethanol/Water Media

Nanocrystalline particles of barium ferrite magnetic material have been prepared by co-precipitation route using aqueous and non-aqueous solutions of iron and barium chlorides with a Fe/Ba molar ratio of 11 and subsequent drying-annealing treatment. Water and ethanol/water mixture with volume ratio of 3:1 were used as solvents in the process. Coprecipitated powders were annealed at various temperatures for 1 h. FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), XRD (X-ray diffraction), DTA/TGA (differential thermal analysis/thermogravimetric analysis) and SEM (scanning electron microscopy) techniques were used to evaluate powder particle characteristics. DTA/TGA results confirmed by those obtained from XRD indicated that the formation of barium ferrite occurs in sample synthesized in ethanol/water solution at a relatively low temperature of 631 degrees C. Nano-size particles of barium ferrite with mean particle size of almost 75 and 100 nm were observed in the SEM micrographs of the samples synthesized in ethanol/water solution after annealing at 700 and 800 degrees C for 1 h, respectively.