Nanostructure and Optical Properties of Fe₃O₄: Effect of Calcination Temperature and Dwelling Time

In this work, we reported the nanostructure and optical properties of the Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles. The Fe₃O₄ have been synthesized from local iron sand Halmahera Utara by using the coprecipitation method at a temperature of 80°C and NaOH concentration of 3M. The nanoparticles were calcined at 150°C and 250°C for 4 hours consecutively, while the calcination dwelling time was 2 hours and 4 hours at a temperature of 250°C. The results show that a formation of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles with a spinel crystal structure. The lattice parameter of nanoparticles decreases with an increase of calcination temperature and dwelling time due to higher thermal energy driving the atom to move closer to each other. Hence, the crystallite size of the nanoparticles increases due to the expansion process to the grain of the nanoparticles. The optical gap energy of the nanoparticles decreases due to the formation of a larger particle. It also confirms that the existence of Fe³⁺-O and Fe²⁺-O bonds in the nanoparticles which are characteristic functional group bond of Fe₃O₄ in the tetrahedral and octahedral sublattice. This result can prove that a higher calcination temperature and longer dwelling time can improve the nanostructure and optical properties of Fe₃O₄. (paper)