Application of oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) as a controlling parameter during the synthesis of Fe₃O₄@PVA nanocomposites from industrial waste (raffinate)

The objective of this study was to develop a process for the synthesis of magnetite nanocomposites from raffinate of hydrometallurgical plants containing iron ions. Towards this goal, a three-step process was developed. After the reduction of Fe(III) to Fe(II) in the first stage, Al³⁺ in the raffinate was precipitated as Al(OH)₃ and finally magnetite NPs were synthesized by chemical co-precipitation method via controlling the oxidation-reduction potentials (ORPs). The produced nanomaterials were analyzed using XRD, TEM, VSM, TGA, and FTIR. The TG, XPS, and FTIR results affirmed the existence of PVA while TEM images illustrated the spherical nanoparticles with an average size of about 19 ± 4 nm. Evaluation of VSM data indicated the highly ferromagnetic behavior for Fe₃O₄ and Fe₃O₄@PVA products at the room temperature with a saturation magnetization of 46.98 and 35.78 emu/g, respectively.