Synthesis and structural characterization of iron chromite nanoparticles: A preliminary study

In this work, the synthesis of iron chromite nanoparticles was performed employing Indonesian iron sand through the coprecipitation route. The crystal and molecular structures of the prepared iron chromite nanoparticles were characterized by means of XRD and FTIR spectrophotometer. Meanwhile, the elemental mapping and morphology of the samples were evaluated using the SEM-EDX technique. The data analysis results showed that the iron chromite nanoparticles had a spinel cubic structure with the lattice parameters and crystallite size of 8.303 Å and 6.8 nm, respectively. The molecular structure analysis for the FTIR spectrum showed that the Fe and Cr ions placed the tetrahedral and octahedral sites. The average particle size of the iron chromite nanoparticles was 30.4 nm and tended to agglomerate. Interestingly, the elemental mapping indicated that the Fe, Cr, and O atoms distributed homogenously.