Preparation and investigation of structural properties of magnetic diatomite nanocomposites formed with different iron content

Magnetic diatomite nanocomposites (MDNC) were synthesized successfully by partial reduction co-precipitation method from iron salt solution at different concentrations and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal analyses (DTA/TGA), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) and surface area measurements (BET). The XRD pattern of magnetic diatomite nanocomposites is face centered cubic with an average diameter of 4.67, 4.11 and 4. 82 nm as MDNC-1, MDNC-2 and MDNC-3, respectively. The saturation magnetization values for magnetic diatomite composites (diatomite/Fe ratio 1:1.5, 1:2.0 and 1:3.0) were found to be 13.81, 13.37 and 16.42 emu/g, respectively. By FT-IR spectra it was found that the main features of the silica framework were maintained after magnetite incorporation and some peak intensities were increased with magnetite loading. The cell parameter increase and the surface area decrease with increase in Fe content, observed by N2 adsorption-desorption technique, were considered as evidence of metal concentration effect in the synthesis procedure.