New monopolar arrangement of electrodes to enhance the production of magnetite nanoparticles in an electrochemical cell

Here, we proposed to increase the production rate of magnetite nanoparticles by electro-oxidation of iron in water using multi-electrode with an arrangement of conventional monopolar (CM) and alternating monopolar (AM). The production rate of the magnetite nanoparticles could be increased significantly using the proposed electrode arrangement compared to our previous method using one-pair of electrodes in the same system. The particle sizes ranged from 28 to 88 nm for the CM and from 20 to 25 nm for the AM arrangements. The performance of the AM arrangement was superior that of the CM arrangement in regard to production rate, particle size, and product purity. The production rates were approximately 20 and 30-fold increases for, respectively, the CM and AM arrangements compared to that of one-pair electrode. The magnetite particles produced using the CM arrangement contained impurities in the form of FeOOH and Fe₂O₃. On the contrary, only magnetite was identified in the particles prepared using the AM arrangement.