Magnetic characteristics of sengon wood-impregnated magnetite nanoparticles synthesized by the co-precipitation method

Abstract

<abstract> <p>This study was conducted to synthesize magnetic wood through the ex situ impregnation method of magnetite nanoparticles and analyze its physical properties and characterization. The process was initiated with the synthesis of magnetite nanoparticles by the co-precipitation method and the nano-magnetite was successfully synthesized with a particle distribution of 17–233 nm at an average size of 75 nm. Furthermore, the impregnation solution consisted of three different levels of magnetite nanoparticles dispersed in furfuryl alcohol, untreated and furfurylated wood for comparison. Sengon wood (<italic>Falcataria moluccana</italic> Miq.) was also used due to its low physical properties. The impregnation process was conducted by immersing the samples in the solution at a vacuum of −0.5 bar for 30 min, followed by a pressure of 1 bar for 2 h. There was also an improvement in the physical properties, such as weight percent gain, bulking effect, anti-swelling efficiency and density, while the water uptake continued to decrease. Additionally, magnetite nanoparticles appeared in wood microstructure image, supported by the result of ferrum content in chemical element analysis. The results showed that chemical change analysis proved the presence of Fe–O functional group cross-linked with wood polymer. The diffractogram also reported the appearance of magnetite nanoparticles peak and a decrease in crystallinity due to an increase in the concentration. Based on the analysis, sengon wood was classified as a superparamagnetic material with soft magnetic characteristics and the optimum treatment was furfurylated-magnetite 12.5% wood.</p> </abstract>