The effect of ferrous/ferric molar ratio on the formation of nano-sized magnetite particles was investigated by a co-precipitation method. Ferrous sulfate and ferric sulfate were used as iron sources and sodium hydroxide was used as a precipitant. In this experiment, the variables were the ferrous/ferric molar ratio (1.0, 1.25, 2.5 and 5.0) and the equivalent ratio (0.10, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0), while the reaction temperature (25˚C) and reaction time (30 min.) were fixed. Argon gas was flowed during the reactions to prevent the Fe2+ from oxidizing in the air. Single-phase magnetite was synthesized when the equivalent ratio was above 2.0 with the ferrous/ferric molar ratios. However, goethite and magnetite were synthesized when the equivalent ratio was 1.0. The crystallinity of magnetite increased as the equivalent ratio increased up to 3.0. The crystallite size (5.6 to 11.6 nm), median particle size (15.4 to 19.5 nm), and saturation magnetization (43 to 71 emu.g-1) changed depending on the ferrous/ferric molar ratio. The highest saturation magnetization (71 emu.g-1) was obtained when the equivalent ratio was 3.0 and the ferrous/ferric molar ratio was 2.5.

The chemical formula of magnetite (Fe3O4) is FeO·Fe2O3, t magnetite being composed of divalent ferrous ion andtrivalent ferric ion. In this study, the influence of the coexistence of ferrous and ferric ion on the formation of iron oxide wasinvestigated. The effect of the co-precipitation parameters (equivalent ratio and reaction temperature) on the formation of ironoxide was investigated using ferric sulfate, ferrous sulfate and ammonia. The equivalent ratio was varied from 0.1 to 3.0 andthe reaction temperature was varied from 25 to 75. The concentration of the three starting solutions was 0.01mole. Jarosite wasformed when equivalent ratios were 0.1-0.25 and jarosite, goethite, magnetite were formed when equivalent ratios were 0.25-0.6. Single-phase magnetite was formed when the equivalent ratio was above 0.65. The crystallite size and median particle sizeof the magnetite decreased when the equivalent ratio was increased from 0.65 to 3.0. However, the crystallite size and medianparticle size of the magnetite increased when the reaction temperature was increased from 25oC to 75oC. When ferric and ferroussulfates were used together, the synthetic conditions to get single phase magnetite became simpler than when ferrous sulfatewas used alone because of the co-existence of Fe2+ and Fe3+ in the solution.

A Fe(OH)2 suspension was prepared by mixing iron sulfate and a weak alkali ammonia solution. Following this, iron oxides were synthesized by passing pure oxygen through the suspension (oxidation). The effects of different reaction temperatures (30˚C, 50˚C, 70˚C) and equivalent ratios (0.1~10.0) on the formation of iron oxides were investigated. An equilibrium phase diagram was established by quantitative phase analysis of the iron oxides using the Rietveld method. The equilibrium phase diagram showed a large difference from the equilibrium phase diagram of Kiyama when the equivalent ratio was above 1, and single Fe3O4 phase only formed above an equivalent ratio 2 at all reaction temperatures. Kiyama synthesized iron oxide using iron sulfate and a strong alkali NaOH solution.