Control of structure and particle size of iron oxide on carrier oxide by the sol-gel method using organic polydentate ligands

It was tried to control the structure and particle size of iron oxide supported on a carrier by regulating the hydrolytic polymerization of aquo iron complexes with organic polydentate ligands. The iron oxide/carrier composites were prepared by calcining carrier oxides impregnated with organic ligands and Fe(NO₃)₃·9H₂O. When ligands were diacetone alcohol and ethanol, the structure of the iron oxide was exclusively corundum. But, with ligands such as ethylene glycol, citric acid and galacturonic acid, the structure of the iron oxide changed from corundum to spinel as the amount of ligands used increased. With both series of ring and straight chain saccharides, size of the iron oxide particles changed depending on saccharides used. It was thus concluded that the structure and particle size of iron oxide supported on a carrier can be regulated by using organic polydentate ligands.