Use of Emanation Thermal Analysis in Characterisation of Nanosized Hematite Prepared by Dry Grinding of Goethite

Hematite nanoparticles of narrow size distribution were prepared by grinding of goethite. Intermediate and final products of grinding were characterised by different techniques, including the less-common emanation thermal analysis (ETA). ETA was shown to be a useful technique for characterising processes of surface annealing, initial sintering and growth of hematite particles under in situ conditions of thermal treatment. A good agreement was found between results of ETA, TG, XRD, IR spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, used for characterisation of thermal behaviour of the goethite samples ground for varying time (0–70 h). This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Mechanism of the Thermal Transformation From Goethite to Hematite

Synthetic pigments of goethite (Bayferrox^R) of different particle size were investigated by DTA, IR, DSC, TG and X-ray diffraction measurements. It follows that a so-called ‘hydrohematite’ described in the literature does not exist as a discrete intermediate during the dehydration course from goethite to hematite. Instead we observed a dependence of the dehydration mechanism on the particle size. Transformation enthalpies and activation energies for the dehydration process will be given. A plausible dehydration mechanism, which is compatible with our DTA/DSC results, is deduced from TEM investigations. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Enhanced adsorption of roxarsone onto humic acid modified goethite from aqueous solution

The adsorption of roxarsone (ROX) on the humic acid modified goethite (HA-α-FeOOH) was evaluated for several potential environmental factors. Results showed that 1) ROX had a higher adsorption capacity onto HA-α-FeOOH than unmodified α-FeOOH; 2) the adsorption of ROX increased with a decrease in pH; 3) the high ionic strength significantly inhibited the adsorption capacity of HA-α-FeOOH; and 4) a higher temperature yielded greater adsorption, since the process for ROX to be adsorbed by HA-α-FeOOH was a spontaneous endothermic reaction. The maximum adsorption capacity of ROX was found to be 80.71?mg?·?g^?1, when the temperature was 308?K. Meanwhile, the inhibitory effects of ionic strength and PO₄^3? on the adsorption of ROX onto HA-α-FeOOH were enhanced with an increase in concentration. In addition, the adsorption equilibrium data obeyed Langmuir isotherm model and the kinetic data were well described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. From the infrared spectra of HA-α-FeOOH, it could be deduced that the ROX adsorption onto HA-α-FeOOH was achieved via the ion exchange between the arsenic acid and the carboxyl group on adsorbent, as well as the formation of As-O-Fe bond between Fe-O and arsenic acid ions.     

Thermal equation of state of goethite (α-FeOOH)

ABSTRACT

The pressure–volume–temperature (P–V–T) equation of state (EoS) of natural goethite (α-FeOOH) has been determined by an X-ray diffraction study using synchrotron radiation. Fitting the volume data to the third-order Birch–Murnaghan EoS yielded an isothermal bulk modulus, B₀ of 85.9(15)?GPa, and a pressure derivative of the bulk modulus, B′, of 12.6(8). The temperature derivative of the bulk modulus, (?B/?T)_P, was –0.022(9)?GPa?K^?1. The thermal expansion coefficient α₀ was determined to be 4.0(5)?×?10^?5?K^?1.     

Influence of synthesis conditions on structural,optical and magnetic properties of iron oxide nanoparticles prepared by hydrothermal method

The iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method at different heating temperatures and pH conditions. The synthesized materials were characterized by X-ray diffractometer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, UV–visible spectrometer and vibrating sample magnetometer. With increment in pH of the synthesized materials were resulted in orthorhombic (goethite) and cubic (magnetite) structures at pH 6 and 12, respectively. The banding nature of synthesized materials was analyzed by infrared spectra. The synthesized powders at 130?°C showed higher percent of nanorods (length = 90–120 nm) in addition to lower percentage of nanoparticles. The material at pH 12 consisted of maximum nanoparticles with size = 10–60 nm with small agglomerations. Band gap energy of synthesized materials was 2.2–2.8 eV. Herein, the reaction conditions tuned the saturation magnetization (M_S). The maximum M_S (59.38 emu/g) was obtained at pH 12 and lower M_S (0.65 emu/g) was observed at pH 6 due to intrinsic property of goethite phase.     

Mössbauer spectroscopy on Mars: goethite in the Columbia Hills at Gusev crater

In January 2004 the USA space agency NASA landed two rovers on the surface of Mars, both carrying the Mainz Mössbauer spectrometer MIMOS II. The instrument on the Mars-Exploration-Rover (MER) Spirit analyzed soils and rocks on the plains and in the Columbia Hills of Gusev crater landing site on Mars. The surface material in the plains have an olivine basaltic signature [1, 5] suggesting physical rather than chemical weathering processes present in the plains. The Mössbauer signature for the Columbia Hills surface material is very different ranging from nearly unaltered material to highly altered material. Some of the rocks, in particular a rock named Clovis, contain a significant amount of the Fe oxyhydroxide goethite, α-FeOOH, which is mineralogical evidence for aqueous processes because it is formed only under aqueous conditions. In this paper we describe the analysis of these data using hyperfine field distributions (HFD) and discuss the results in comparison to terrestrial analogues.     

Integrated QMMM and Monte Carlo methods for analysis of adsorptive interactions between goethite cluster,carbon nanotubes,and arsenate

Iron‐immobilized nanoporous carbon is a well‐known adsorbent used in treating arsenic‐contaminated waters. In this contribution, we present findings on the adsorptive interactions and dynamics of arsenate–goethite cluster ([FeO(OH)]₆) with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using hybridized quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QMMM) calculations. The CNTs adsorption mechanism is of interest since a better understanding of the fundamental interactions between arsenate, goethite, and carbon surfaces would translate to advances in CNT‐based adsorbent production and utilization. Novel applications of general amber force field (GAFF) and isobaric‐isothermal Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo (NpT‐GEMC) methods are described. By the abovementioned methods, we postulate that the [FeO(OH)]₆/CNT‐2.3 (diameter 2.3 nm ‐ mesoporous) system enhances the qualitative (i.e., improved chemisorption) rather than the quantitative adsorptive aspect (i.e., total ions adsorbed) in comparison to the [FeO(OH)]₆/CNT‐1.6 (diameter 1.6 nm ‐ microporous) system.