Synthesis of Synthetic Hematite with Substituted Aluminum by Sol-Gel Method

Abstract

In this work, synthetic hematite with isomorphically substituted aluminum contents were obtained by the sol-gel chemical synthesis. Nanomaterials with Fe and Al contains were obtained by the sol-gel method mixing stoichiometric mixtures of ferric chloride (FeCl3) and aluminum isopropoxide Al (OC3H7)3at 75°C. The obtained sol-gel was dried at 60 oC followed by calcinations at 400, 800 and 1100 oC. The resulting powders were characterized by X-Ray diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Preliminary results showed α-Fe2O3particles into amorphous Al-O-Fe structure, and the formation of alumina with sintering temperature. SEM characterization results, showed small size particle formation in the order of 100-200 nm, however nanosize particles could be improve by chemical parameters control and ultrasonic dispersion. Also SEM observation showed the formation and homogenous distribution of minority Fe-O phase particles between Al-O-Fe phase particles.