Formation Mechanisms of Co-existence of α-Fe and Iron Oxides Nanoparticles Decorated on Carbon Nanofibers by a Simple Liquid Phase Adsorption-Thermal Oxidation

Abstract

We propose formation mechanisms of co-existence of α-Fe and iron oxides nanoparticles decorated on CNFs. The α-Fe nanoparticles are produced via oxidation-reduction mechanisms, which occur in liquid phase adsorption (LPA) assisted by ultrasonic energy, while α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles are thermally formed through mechanisms of Lewis acid-base. In addition, Fe3O4 is thermally formed by reducing Fe2O3 by CNFs. Liquid phase adsorption assisted by ultrasonic energy under ambient temperature using Fe(NO3)3•9H2O as a precursor of iron oxides and α-Fe has been applied. Then, as prepared, Fe(III)@CNFs were thermally calcined at 573 K under air atmosphere in various holding times ranging from 0.5 to 2 h. XRD data confirmed that α- Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 had been successfully grown onto CNFs. Moreover, the presence of the iron oxides and iron nanoparticles was studied by the SEM-EDX technique. The iron oxide nanoparticles appeared after a heating period of 0.5h. However, at a holding time of 0.5 h, we found an exciting and unexpected phenomenon where oxygen content is zero percent while Fe is 0.23 wt %. It implies that α-Fe nanoparticles were formed earlier than α-Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 as the proposed mechanisms. Formation mechanisms of iron and its oxides such as α-Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 decorated on CNFs through liquid-phase adsorption followed by thermally treatment technique in this work is expected to give significant contribution in the field of nanocomposite materials, especially for anode materials based on iron oxides