We report a new route of akaganéite (β-FeOOH) formation and maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) formation. Akaganéite can be produced by stirring Fe2+ at room temperature for a day under mild conditions. We used FeCl2 ·4H2O as the precursor and mixed it with the Na-rich particle from the oxidation debris solution. The role of the concentration ratio between graphene oxide (GO) and NaOH was addressed to generate oxidation debris (OD) on the surface. In particular, the characterization of OD by transmission electron microscope (TEM) imaging provides clear evidence for the crystal formation of Na-rich particle under electron beam irradiation. For the base treatment process, increasing the concentration of a NaOH in Na-rich solution contributed primarily to the formation of γ-Fe2O3. The characterization by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and TEM showed that the morphology was changed from needle-like to small-oval form. In addition, β-FeOOH can be effectively produced directly using GO combined with FeCl2 ·4H2O at room temperature. More specifically, the role of parent material (Hummer's GO and Brodie's GO) was discussed, and the crystal transformation was identified. Our results concluded that β-FeOOH can be formed in basic and acidic conditions.

The optimization of deacetylation process parameters for producing chitosan from isolated chitin shrimp shell waste was investigated using response surface methodology with central composite design (RSM-CCD). Three independent variables viz, NaOH concentration (X1), radiation power (X2), and reaction time (X3) were examined to determine their respective effects on the degree of deacetylation (DD). The DD of chitosan was also calculated using the baseline approach of the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra of the yields. RSM-CCD analysis showed that the optimal chitosan DD value of 96.45 % was obtained at an optimized condition of 63.41 % (w/v) NaOH concentration, 227.28 W radiation power, and 3.34 min deacetylation reaction. The DD was strongly controlled by NaOH concentration, irradiation power, and reaction duration. The coefficients of correlation were 0.257, 0.680, and 0.390, respectively. Because the procedure used microwave radiation absorption, radiation power had a substantial correlation of 0.600~0.800 compared to the two low variables, which were 0.200~0.400. This independently predicted robust quadratic model interaction has been validated for predicting the DD of chitin.