Annealing dependence of structural, magnetic, and photocatalytic properties in hematite nanoparticles synthesized by sol-gel method Hikmah Maulidina1,*, Utari1, Suharno2, Hendri Widiyandari1, Budi Purnama1,*
1) Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Sebelas Maret University, Jl. Ir Sutami 36A Kentingan Jebres Surakarta 57126, Indonesia
2) Physics Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Jl. Ir. Sutami 36A Kentingan, Jebres, Surakarta, 57126, Idonesia
Abstract
Hematite nanoparticle has been successfully synthesized by the sol-gel method. Post annealed at 400∘-C, 500∘-C, 600∘-C, and 700∘-C for 4 hours are used to modify the structural, morphological, and magnetic properties. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) result present the primary vibration of Fe-O in the wave number k is 461.97-542.02 cm-1. The X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) confirm the crystalline size increases with annealed temperature. Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) result show that the annealed temperature changes the magnitude of coercive force (Hc) as well as magnetization saturation. The performance of hematite as a photocatalyst was evaluated using methylene blue 10 ppm as a pollutant model. It was found that the sample with an annealing temperature of 400∘-C successfully decomposed methylene blue of 69.54% for using 40 mg under 80 minute ultraviolet irradiation.
